Vocal Jazz Concert

I have a vocal jazz concert this Thursday, May 8, at 7:30 in the Mill Theater. It's only like 45 min to an hour so stop on by!!! FREE with j-pass!!

Benson the "Bust"

When the Chicago Bears drafted running back Cedric Benson in the 2005 NFL Draft. He was the top back coming out of college and the Bears seemed to get a great pick drafting the 2nd highest rusher in school history at the University of Texas. However, it all went south after he got hurt in the middle of the 2006 Super Bowl against the Colts. With limited success so far Benson seems to be a bust for the Bears and again the Bears have no running game. Also, just yesterday Benson was charged with drunken boating and resisting arrest. This is just another problem for the Bears and should definitely release him. The NFL the past five years has had players such as Pacman Jones, Michael Vick, and now Cedric Benson who have been arrested and charged. With many more instances happening in the past and more to come n the future, the league has to clean up what has been happening and create a better role model like makeup to the league to set a better example for kids.

It Never Ends!!!!!!!

Just when I thought that we were done doing football stuff, I was wrong. I thought that we would just be lifting on Mondays. Wednesdays, and Fridays. Wrong! Not only do we lift, but we also run after we get done lifting. It wears me out because after I get done with that in the morning I have to go straight to class. I wish that we could get sometime off because school is winding down. We should be concentrating on getting our grades straight, and preparing for finals. Not beating us into the ground.

Recording Studio

Yesterday was the second recording session for Vocal Jazz. Unfortunately i was sick so i didn't do my best. Our next session is next week. This past session we recorded 2 songs: "Centerpiece" and our ensemble's song "Late Night Blues". Despite we only have an hour and a half to record 2 songs, i think we are making progress. The album will be out hopefully in the fall, so if you want to hear it let me know!!!

New York Choir Tour

We traveled all over the northern east coast including Ohio to sing for people in schools and churhes. We first went to New York in a little town called Baldwinsville where 3 of our very own Elmhurst College choir students were born and raised. It was a lot of fun and special for those three people because their families can't fly out and see them perform everytime we have a local concert. The look of pride on their family and friends' facas just stood out from everyone else's in the audience. We took a tour bus because we only stayed at a hotel or at a family's house for a maximum of 1-2 nights. The home stays were awesome because we got to meet new people and hear their great boston and New York Accents. Next we went to a high school in Boston and actually sang WITH them at a concert which was fun because the choir was literally twice it's size. Then after 8 hours of traveling we stayed in New York City for two nights. It was a crappy hotel, but PERFECT location. Everything was walking distance and Time Square was 2 blocks away along with the Broadway theaters and great restaurants everywhere! On our way back to Elmhurst, we stopped in a little town of Ohio to show a high school what college choir was like. No matter how big or small the audience was, that important thing is that we touced just one persons heart and because of us they stay with music during college and even the rest of their life. That's all it takes to reach success.

Time Commitments in College

Another challenge facing student athletes is the ability to juggle their team, class and social obligations. For Nick Hartigan '06, a running back for the football team, "It was tough balancing at first ... but it got better" after his first year.Woodson agrees that the transition between high school and college sports is not easy. "Between the running, the workouts and practice ... it is a much larger time commitment," he said. Some athletes choose to end their sports careers in order to re-balance their time commitments. This is just an example of people in college playing sprots and not having a lot of time.

Combating the Jock Stereotype

From division I down to division III, the negative stereotype that immaturely gets thrown in high school and carries over to college athletics is the word jock. According to dictionary.die.net, jock can be defined as "a person trained to compete in sports." So how did this term develop over time to become negative? Because of the importance extracurriculars serve to schools, athletes market the school they attend and become the face of it. Whatever they do on or off the field reflects what the school stands for. Therefore, athletes are more popular because they have a big responsibility on campus in comparison to the average student. Also, with the student- athlete hectic schedule, teachers are more understanding to extensions, late assignments, etc. because of the time spent on athletics serving the school. This is when the average student becomes enraged believing that athletes are lazy, are shown favoritism, and are stuck up. When really they are trying to earn the same education as any other student. This has become a on-going issue that had separated student bodies across the nation at colleges everywhere ranging from ivy league schools as Harvard or Princeton to your private colleges such as Elmhurst. From a student-athlete at Brown University, "I think there are mainly two groups on campus (concerning) the way athletes are perceived," she said. "There is a group that perceives us as jocks and that we don't belong here ... and that we don't do anything other than sports." Therefore, people who do feel this way can be persuaded that athletes are students too just trying to get a good education leading to earning a living. http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2005/02/16/Focus/StudentAthletes.Face.Stereotypes.In.And.Out.Of.Classroom-865849.shtml