Groovy, Baby

I'll give you three chances to guess what I'm about to write about. Oh, African Drumming? Wow, you got it on the first try. You've been paying attention, I see.

I'm always so in love with what my professor says in that class. I know he's talking about drums, but it sounds more like he's spurting fountains of wisdom and life analogies to me. The topic today: Find your groove. He was referring to finding the basic rhythm of what we were playing and then elaborating with our own improvisations. But what it sounds like to my ears is more along the lines of "find yourself." Find your own groove in life, because marching to the beat of someone else's drum is merely the equation for an epic fail.

I always look at myself now (and everyone else at UGA, for that matter), remember that time (once upon a time) I thought 20 was old and grown up, and laugh/ get stressed out. In my mind, 20-22 sounds like the age where everything comes together. You're supposed to know what you're going to do with the rest of your life, look stunning, feel stunning, and be filled with a very high and naive level of confidence and self-esteem. However, now that I'm here, I see that my silly little self was, in fact, very wrong. I have less of a clue what my life will be like in the next 3 years than I did when I was 10 years old. And let's be honest, that's pretty terrifying to think about. It makes me feel like there's some part of life I'm just failing at. Why don't I know these things by now? Why am I so confused about ... well, basically ... everything?

So I suppose it's comforting to hear someone tell me to just find my groove. Yes, step number one. I can handle that. And from there, life ain't so tough after all. Because once you find yourself (aka your groove), that will guide you and your decisions from that point on.

So, that's a burden lifted. I mean, I already had my superbly awkward phase in middle school. If we can survive that, I'd say we can survive anything. So my plan? Grab a drum (preferably a djembe), play, and march. I guess we'll see where that takes me when I get there.

Can Sitcoms Be Political ... Again?

Sitcoms. Thirty minutes of a ridiculous situation meant to make us all laugh and vegetate on our sofa after work. Can they be political? Of course. In fact, I see no real point in a sitcom's existence if it doesn't try to prove some point or other. Otherwise, it would just be a show that stresses me out for thirty minutes at a time as I watch everything go wrong ... once again.

My drama teacher in high school used to always tell us that comedies are the hardest genre to pull off. And it's true. Because comedy is tricky. Comedians are funny because they blatantly break your expectations and cross every societal line in existence. The point isn't just to be as crude as possible, but to force you to see something nasty within human nature or society that you would otherwise continue to go about your day blissfully ignoring. No one wants to admit they have character flaws. So comedians take the liberty of shoving them in your face. And we laugh about it. Because we know it's true. And we would much rather laugh off our flaws that sit in awkward silence pondering them.

Therefore, what better place does a sitcom have than to be political? Prove a point. Ask for a change. As Steve Marche said, "The difficulty and confusion of the present moment are bursting with potential." I guess I never knew there was a question of the political usefulness of sitcoms in our society. But after reading Marche's article, sitcoms' political-ness shouldn't be fading away. Be stereotypical. Be outrageous. Offend viewers. That's the point. Force those watching to understand that the caricatures they are laughing at/ being offended by are merely representations of themselves.

All in all, I think most people would agree that sitcoms are fairly harmless. They are therefore a perfect outlet to serve as this political/ social highlighter. I can think of very few people who will be legitimately outraged by a silly sitcom. Sitcoms can then fly under the radar of angry American mobs, while still proving the same point that a lobbyist or politician may be attempting to make and getting shot down with rotten tomatoes.

Perhaps a form of subliminal messaging? Is that actually ethical ... is it considered "brainwashing?" Maybe, maybe not. That's another discussion for another day.

So make me laugh. While asking me to change.

Can Anybody Find Me "Somebodies" to Love?

Ok, so my apologies for the terrible title of this blog. But let's be honest, who doesn't love Queen and especially that song? It's been stuck in my head for days now ... probably because listening to it run around in my brain was a lot more entertaining than actually watching "Somebodies" on Wednesday in class. Well, that and "Trapped in the Closet" ... I mean, when Mr. Big/Angry Friend got shoved in the closet at his tennis instructor's house, it brought back some pretty intense memories of watching the entire R. Kelly "Trapped in the Closet" epic until 3 a.m. freshman year ... like every night. If you haven't seen it, I would advise watching Ch. 1 (of 12; it's quite the saga, you see). Seriously. You'll laugh.

But enough about R. Kelly's musical endeavors. We're here to talk about "Somebodies." Coming from a theater background, I can sometimes be (inadvertently) overly critical in moments such as this. So I'm trying to think of the best way to organize my thoughts here without sounding mean. First off, I'd like to say that I think it's really cool that this show came out of Athens and our very own Grady. I thought it was a pretty interesting experience for us to recognize locations around Athens and campus while watching a BET show. So kudos for that.

On a less positive note, I can't really envision anyone watching this show out of their own free will. See what I mean about coming off as overly critical? What I mean by that is I would never sit down on the sofa after a long day, hoping to zone out in from my tele for a little while, and say "Yes, Somebodies is on!" The basic premise of the show is solid, albeit potentially overplayed: a young Black man with no life plans in sight rising above what is expected of him to grow into a man. However, the acting is less than stellar. Actually, it was so bad it was distracting ... kind of stressed me out. Scottie and Diva are both weak actors- Diva in the overacting camp and Scottie in the underacting one. The real problem with this is that I don't feel a connection or relationship with any of the characters. I'm not really all that interested in what happens on the show because I don't particularly care one way or the other about the characters whose lives we are watching.

The plot was fairly predictable. Oh geez, you have ridiculously hot strippers, I mean, neighbors ... and look, now they moved away. I never saw that one coming. And I especially couldn't predict that your new neighbors just might be related to your landlord. That's just crazy talk, guys.

All in all, the show is lacking in several areas. Maybe with a little tweaking (or massive overhauling), it could have been pretty legit. I see crowd-pleasing potential, but it's just not there.

"And now I'm in this darkest closet, tryin' to figure out just how I'm gonna get my crazy ass up outta this house." (yeah, watch it.)

That's My Motto

"Everyday a new adventure. That's my motto." - Big Fish

So, my roommate is pretty much obsessed with the movie Big Fish. I mean, to the point of quoting every single line before the actors even get to say it ... makes it kind of anti-climatic, actually. Anyways, we watched it a few days ago in our apartment- roommate bonding time and all. Perfect timing for a movie to write my blog on. Well, one of the obvious motifs of Big Fish is the idea of fate. Are we trapped by our fate, do we create our own fate, does fate even exist? "This is good. I will totally expound on this controversial topic," I say to myself. How Honors kid-esque of me.

But then, about 3/4 of the way through the movie, in an attempt to justify his bank robbing, the poet with the super creepy eyeballs, Norther Winslow (played by Steve Buscemi- freaky eyes, right?), delivers the quote from above. "Yessssss, forget that Honors kid rambling. I'm going with my gut on this one," think I. And now here we are.

I suppose the reason that quote hit me so hard is because it is very similar to a lesson I learned myself this summer. I went on a study abroad trip to one of the most beautiful, most incredible, and most chill places on Earth: New Zealand. People always ask me, "What is your favorite thing about your trip?" They're probably just looking for a quick and easy answer about a really sweet hiking trip. But instead I get on my soap box and tell them exactly what I'm about to tell you.

What I really brought home with me from my study abroad trip was what I learned from the people who live there. Kiwis, immigrants, visitors; they all share something in common:

Everyone in New Zealand is happy. And people are happy because they're not stressed out. And they're not stressed out because (for the most part) they do what they love ... every day. And 9 times out of 10, what they love to do does not fall in the category of having a "normal" job or living a "typical" lifestyle. I feel like the emphasis in America is go to school, get a job, get married, have some kids, that's your life, the end. But what if that's not what I want? What if that's not what you want? Here, you would probably get disapproving looks, lots of lectures from really ancient relatives at family reunions, and potentially become buddy-buddy with poverty. In New Zealand, the proper response is "So what?" No matter what they have or don't have, they're happy. What more could you ask for? I met a gondolier who used to be a banker in England and then sold everything he owned to move to a country that made him happy. Now he pushes boats for a living and loves his life more than ever before. To him and the many people like him that I met, every day IS an adventure.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is this ... an especially poignant statement considering the jobs (or more appropriately, lack thereof) that most of us in this class want to have one day ... whatever it is that you love, do it. Do it every day. Do it always and forever. Make every day an adventure for yourself; it's not just for those awesome kiwis in New Zealand. Don't let anyone or any formula that appears to exist create your life for you. And who cares if you're poor? Who cares if you don't live in a house with a big green lawn, complete with three kids and a dog?

Let's be honest, that's probably overrated anyways.

African Drumming 101

So ... African Drumming is pretty much one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. Seriously, everyone needs to take this class before they graduate. I love it because we're learning to play some pretty sweet instruments, but we're also learning a lot about ourselves and human nature, in general, too. Something that our teacher said on the first day, I've been carrying around with me ever since: No matter what, we are all drummers. We are all drummers because we carry the same rhythm inside each and every one of us. Everyone on this planet is driven by the same pulse, the same heartbeat. And in that way, we are all connected.

Now that's some pretty heavy stuff to throw out there on the first day of class. It reminds me of a J.K. Rowling quote (yes, from Harry Potter ... but Dumbledore said it, so it's clearly legit), " ... though we may come from different countries and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one." Both Dr. Scott and J.K. Rowling are right. Now, a few years ago, I would never have thought for even a few seconds that this was a topic that still needed discussing in the year 2009. But my eyes have been shockingly opened to the fact that prejudices of every kind surround us. Daily. Call me naive, but I honestly don't understand why. People could lecture me or show me power point presentations day in and day out about how prejudice is rooted in fear and all the other theories that we make up to explain why it's logical that it exists ... but for a country that prides itself on equality, in fact preaches and shouts it from the rooftops, it seems that we are ... well, failing.

But I guess prejudice is really more about hate. And the only way to counter hatred is with love. So instead of focusing so much on justice and equality, maybe we should focus on love and kindness. Maybe a little Pay It Forward action going on? I don't even know what point I'm trying to make anymore, but I guess my advice to anyone reading this would be to keep all this mind as you go through your daily life. You know that guy that smells like sweat on the packed Orbit bus that takes your seat? Or that girl in your class that never understands anything and therefore asks a million and one frustrating/ridiculous questions? Well, next time you want to strangle both of those people ... or throw them in front of bus ... or whatever your preferred anger-dispensing method ... remember that we are all connected in the most basic of basic ways: being human.

So give that big, smelly, bus-seat-stealer a hug. I dare you.

You know those parents that hold headphones to Mama's beachball-sized pregnant belly in order to surround their baby with music before its ears are even exposed to the outside world? Yep, that baby was me. And perhaps even weirder than the fact that my parents actually tried this little social experiment ... it worked. As a girl who's been singing ever since I could talk, a few minutes of conversation with me will reveal where my true passion lies: music. Music of any kind. Singing music, creating music, listening to music, dancing to music, learning new music. Therefore, it only seems fitting that my blog be about what I love most.

As a little background information, my name is Kate Worthey, and I'm a junior Telecommunication Arts and Psychology double major. Fortunately for you, I won't be boring you with a blog full of random commentary on whatever songs and artists seem to strike my fancy for the day. Instead, I'll most likely be boring you with the musical drama of my everyday life- it's times like these I wish life could have a soundtrack. I'm in a co-ed a cappella group here at UGA, With Someone Else's Money; as if that weren't enough to provide a plethora of silly, melodramatic, and at times even infuriating stories, I'm also taking African Drumming with Dr. Scott this semester. It seems pretty promising in the providing-awesome-stories department thus far. And, to top it all off, I'm embarking on my newest music adventure tomorrow by joining Pamoja hip-hop dance ensemble. From what I've already seen, it should prove to be quite the experience.

So, ladies and gentleman, sit back, relax, crank up that ipod ... and let the show begin.