The Arch of the Sky

EDIT: Rainbow, I didn't forget. Your speech PowerPoint: voila!

I've compiled the first mix over at Grooveshark for those who want to hear the songs - just search "Myth to Sci-Fi" and click Playlists, then go to the first result. All you have to do from there is click Play All!

I tried avoiding (for the most part) obvious singles from well-known bands, and also tried not to go too obscure/off-the-wall. I hope you can find a couple of songs in this batch to love, and that this helps you expand the number of bands you like before you head out into the world!

I got a little carried away and made a double-length mix - 20 songs per mix, so 40 songs. I had to cut out a lot of good ones, so if this goes over well, I'd be happy to make another. (There are even themed ones in the works!)

The mix(es) can be split into parts - the first few are the upbeat section, the last few are the longer songs, etc. - so don't feel compelled to hang out in front of your computer for three hours if you don't want to.

If you like any of the songs, comment or send me an e-mail - I love discussing music.

Here's the track list, along with artist and album titles. Enjoy!

1. “Me and Mia,” Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Shake the Sheets
2. “It’s On Everything,” Last Days of April, If You Lose It
3. “The One You Want,” The Get Up Kids, Guilt Show
4. “Where Did You Go?”, Valencia, We All Need a Reason to Believe
5. “Open Road Song,” Eve 6, Eve 6
6. “Fine,” Alkaline Trio, This Addiction
7. “Closer,” Jimmy Eat World, Stay on My Side Tonight
8. “Tightrope,” The Coast, Expatriate
9. “Aside,” The Weakerthans, Left and Leaving
10. “Guns of Navarone,” Maritime, Heresy and the Hotel Choir
11. “Fake Empire,” The National, Boxer
12. “In a Cave,” Tokyo Police Club, Elephant Shell
13. “Control,” Mute Math, Reset
14. “Someday,” The Strokes, Is This It
15. “Stay (Wasting Time),” Dave Matthews Band, Before These Crowded Streets
16. “The Science of Selling Yourself Short,” Less Than Jake, Anthem
17. “You Remind Me of Home,” Ben Gibbard, Home, Vol. 5
18. “Times Like These,” Jack Johnson, On and On
19. “Words,” Daniel Watters (Shannon’s little brother!), The Next Draft
20. “Salesman at the Day of the Parade,” Rogue Wave, Descended Like Vultures
21. “City Song,” matt pond PA, Several Arrows Later
22. “Stay Close,” Delorean, Subiza
23. “Keep the Car Running,” The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
24. “Chocolate,” Snow Patrol, Final Straw
25. “Near Life Experience,” Lifehouse, Smoke and Mirrors
26. “Casimir Pulaski Day,” Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
27. “MPS,” Bear vs. Shark, Right Now, You’re in the Best of Hands…
28. “re: Stacks,” Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
29. “Calm Americans,” Elliott, False Cathedrals
30. “Winning a Battle, Losing the War,” Kings of Convenience, Quiet is the New Loud
31. “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime,” Beck, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Soundtrack
32. “Sometimes the Best Connection is No Connection at All,” In Praise of Folly, The Present Age
33. “The Other Side,” David Gray, A New Day at Midnight
34. “Do You Know Who You Are?”, Texas is the Reason, Do You Know Who You Are?
35. “Everything Starts Where It Ends,” Lovedrug, Everything Starts When It Ends
36. “The Room,” The Living End, Modern ARTillery
37. “Midwestern Dirt,” Dear and the Headlights, Small Steps, Heavy Hooves
38. “The Luckiest,” Ben Folds, Rockin’ the Suburbs
39. “Transatlanticism,” Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism
40. “Aurora,” Foo Fighters, There is Nothing Left to Lose

Congratulations, graduates!

I hope to see some of you this summer, this fall, and for the Senior/Alum Summit this winter! I still need to do some things - finalizing grades, posting the grad speech, following through on my promise to 6th period to post the names of good bands/songs - so the blog's not quite finished.

You guys had a wonderful ceremony yesterday. I hope you got to throw your mortarboards! Thanks for a great year, and I'll be back in touch when Shannon and I return from AZ Monday night.

If you have anything left to say, go ahead and say it here!

And just remember...this isn't goodbye; this is good luck.

MFE

LetterfromBirminghamJail.doc

LetterfromBirminghamJailQuestions.doc


Also, reflection questions follow after the jump:
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"That's most interesting. But I was no more a mind-reader then than today. I was weeping for an altogether different reason. When I watched you dancing that day, I saw something else. I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let her go. That is what I saw. It wasn't really you, what you were doing, I know that. But I saw you and it broke my heart. And I've never forgotten."

- Madame, Never Let Me Go

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Our leaders had carte blanche as to what they might or might not destroy. Their mission was to win the war as quickly as possible; and while they were admirably trained to do just that, their decisions on the fate of certain priceless world heirlooms – in one case, Dresden – were not always judicious. When, late in the war, with the Wehrmacht breaking up on all fronts, our planes were sent to destroy this last major city, I doubt if the question was asked: "How will this tragedy benefit us, and how will that benefit compare with the ill-effects in the long run?"

Dresden, a beautiful city, built in the art spirit, symbol of an admirable heritage, so anti-Nazi that Hitler visited it but twice during his whole reign, food and hospital centre so bitterly needed now – ploughed under and salt strewn in the furrows.

There can be no doubt that the allies fought on the side of right and the Germans and Japanese on the side of wrong. World War Two was fought for near-holy motives. But I stand convinced that the brand of justice in which we dealt, wholesale bombings of civilian populations, was blasphemous. That the enemy did it first has nothing to do with the moral problem. What I saw of our air war, as the European conflict neared an end, had the earmarks of being an irrational war for war’s sake. Soft citizens of the American democracy had learnt to kick a man below the belt and make the bastard scream.

The occupying Russians, when they discovered that we were Americans, embraced us and congratulated us on the complete desolation our planes had wrought. We accepted their congratulations with good grace and proper modesty, but I felt then, as I feel now, that I would have given my life to save Dresden for the world’s generations to come. That is how everyone should feel about every city on earth.

- Kurt Vonnegut, “Wailing Shall Be in All Streets”

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I once asked you a simple question: how can we get better without losing who we are?

When we read things like Letter from Birmingham Jail, we’re reminded of the sheer enormity of the problems our parents’ generation began to conquer. We have gotten better. But we’re also reminded that the problems haven’t been solved, and we’ve changed along the way.

Moreover, when we read Slaughterhouse-Five, Never Let Me Go, or even “Just One Thing Missing” (that’s for Finals day), we become painfully aware that the problems we’ll face aren’t getting any simpler. If anything, they’re getting more complicated. War, science, progress, conservation – nothing seems simple.

In “Picking Up Pieces,” I asked you about your snake-skins, the identities you won’t stop forging for years. Now I want you to consider not a snake-skin, but a tapestry – the tapestry of our society, of our world, with so many threads tied together, and with so many others dangling loosely, threatening to unravel the whole thing if someone gives them a good tug.

Interpretations of books shift over the years as society shifts around them, much like the flow of water around a stone in the middle of a river shifts depending on the weather. I submit that both Slaughterhouse-Five and Never Let Me Go will remain relevant, not only in our current day and age, but in the future, because they’re about the tapestry’s dangling threads, about the edges of our way of life that threaten to fray unless someone safeguards them.

By that, I mean that they’re not just about the dangers of our new world. They’re also about remembering to value certain things. For example, both books appear to be about atrocity, but I think it’s more accurate to say they’re about kindness – the responsibilities humans have to their fellow beings, and the connections we can't help but forge.

I’m not sure how future generations will read either one. The books may be static, like the rock in the river, but they ask difficult questions and leave them unsolved. Meanwhile, the world keeps rushing on.

Which aspects of Slaughterhouse-Five and Never Let Me Go will maintain their relevance as we move forward? Which pertain to the problems you wish to solve? And how do you think future generations will read them – as curiosities, prophecies, or something in between?

Please compose your responses in a Word document over the next twenty minutes; you will submit the document to turnitin.com when you have finished. Good luck!