Invitation to Create #14: “De lake is comin’!” Quote: “They saw other people like themselves struggling along. A house down, here and there, frightened cattle. But above all the drive of the wind and the water. And the lake. Under its multiplied roar could be heard a mighty sound of grinding rock and timber and a wail… The monstopolous beast had left his bed. The two hundred miles an hour wind had loosed his chains. He seized hold of his dikes and ran forward until he met the quarters; uprooted them like grass and rushed on after his supposed-to-be conquerors, rolling the dikes, rolling the houses, rolling the people in the houses along with other timbers. The sea was walking the earth with a heavy heel.” (p. 161-2) This is the Link To my Music: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rYskauluExdaH5ouCYWjuYXqul5LPCXd/view

This musical composition is written in the Baroque Sonata style which tends to be intense and emotional, some of which I wrote down, and some parts that I improvised to fill in certain gaps. This piece depicts the aftermath of the giant storm which I feel is the most important part of the hurricane, because it is the most distressing time. The sonata starts out with a classic, chromatic, and dramatic bassline which represents the tears of a person who lost their loved ones in the storm. The sound is meant to emulate despair and heaviness of the heart. After the chromatic bassline, I added major double stops which create more complexity and fullness to the music. The reason I chose this piece to transition into a major key is not just to make it more interesting and contrasting, but, also, to emulate a rainbow at the end of the storm which shines over scattered debris and the corpses of dead trees. Then, I go back to the minor key and continue emulating the person’s mourning, up until I reach a few more double stops which are the note G and D. This part of the piece represents the climax, when the person feels the most pain, because the person realizes the devastation of the hurricane. During a hurricane, time is of the essence, as a giant never ending hole which covers part of the earth, like an infection that sickens that specific part of the world. For some people, it is a never ending virus, which destroys everything that the people call home. The waves start small, and get larger and larger, soon claiming the beach. People in its wake start seeing little bits of plywood that reside from the beach shacks that sit on the shore. Boats begin rocking back and forth, back and forth causing the people in the boats to feel queasy. Some people start to go ashore, while others ride it out. The waves get higher to ten feet tall causing a few boats tip over. Sirens begin alarming people to get to safety. The people on the shore see the last air bubbles coming from the boats’ owners who are under water. People scream and run as a twenty foot wave comes toward them. It’s reminiscent of a monster teasing its prey before the monster eats them. As the people run, they search for shelter or anything they can grab onto. Trees begin to fly as people dodge them to protect themselves from shards or other flying objects. Some of the elderly, or those not as physically fit, are at a disadvantage, such as mothers who are weak and carrying children. The mothers give their children to anyone who can take them, so as to make sure they are safe. The ones who cannot make it are swept away by the waves, never to be seen again as they fall off the face of the earth. Now, the winds start blowing cars, propelling them upward far away from whence they came. Houses start to fling, and people are thrown in the air from big gusts of wind. Millions of pieces of debris, from the houses, are flying everywhere. As the winds calm, and the tides go back in, the carnage that has been left behind is visible. The hurricane made some very strange combinations, like cars and buildings smashed together. Wood, tile, and plastic lay on the ground as a sailboat severed into two pieces on the sand. Personal belongings and fragments of peoples lives are scattered lay on the ground for everyone to see. Pictures of families that now have been torn apart, as well as clothes and shoes without owners, are everywhere. One surviving mother sees her child’s baby shoes. Others are praying and thankful to be alive. It’s crazy to think that there are people in the world praying for millions of dollars when some are praying just for their lives. A rainbow appears, as people look up to the sky. Pieces of glass, reflecting on windows and doors, create a paradox of light. One father finds his two children, and they embrace each other. Life goes on.

Invitation to Create #14: “De lake is comin’!” Quote: “They saw other people like themselves struggling along. A house down, here and there, frightened cattle. But above all the drive of the wind and the water. And the lake. Under its multiplied roar could be heard a mighty sound of grinding rock and timber and a wail… The monstopolous beast had left his bed. The two hundred miles an hour wind had loosed his chains. He seized hold of his dikes and ran forward until he met the quarters; uprooted them like grass and rushed on after his supposed-to-be conquerors, rolling the dikes, rolling the houses, rolling the people in the houses along with other timbers. The sea was walking the earth with a heavy heel.” (p. 161-2) This is the Link To my Music: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rYskauluExdaH5ouCYWjuYXqul5LPCXd/view

This musical composition is written in the Baroque Sonata style which tends to be intense and emotional, some of which I wrote down, and some parts that I improvised to fill in certain gaps. This piece depicts the aftermath of the giant storm which I feel is the most important part of the hurricane, because it is the most distressing time. The sonata starts out with a classic, chromatic, and dramatic bassline which represents the tears of a person who lost their loved ones in the storm. The sound is meant to emulate despair and heaviness of the heart. After the chromatic bassline, I added major double stops which create more complexity and fullness to the music. The reason I chose this piece to transition into a major key is not just to make it more interesting and contrasting, but, also, to emulate a rainbow at the end of the storm which shines over scattered debris and the corpses of dead trees. Then, I go back to the minor key and continue emulating the person’s mourning, up until I reach a few more double stops which are the note G and D. This part of the piece represents the climax, when the person feels the most pain, because the person realizes the devastation of the hurricane. During a hurricane, time is of the essence, as a giant never ending hole which covers part of the earth, like an infection that sickens that specific part of the world. For some people, it is a never ending virus, which destroys everything that the people call home. The waves start small, and get larger and larger, soon claiming the beach. People in its wake start seeing little bits of plywood that reside from the beach shacks that sit on the shore. Boats begin rocking back and forth, back and forth causing the people in the boats to feel queasy. Some people start to go ashore, while others ride it out. The waves get higher to ten feet tall causing a few boats tip over. Sirens begin alarming people to get to safety. The people on the shore see the last air bubbles coming from the boats’ owners who are under water. People scream and run as a twenty foot wave comes toward them. It’s reminiscent of a monster teasing its prey before the monster eats them. As the people run, they search for shelter or anything they can grab onto. Trees begin to fly as people dodge them to protect themselves from shards or other flying objects. Some of the elderly, or those not as physically fit, are at a disadvantage, such as mothers who are weak and carrying children. The mothers give their children to anyone who can take them, so as to make sure they are safe. The ones who cannot make it are swept away by the waves, never to be seen again as they fall off the face of the earth. Now, the winds start blowing cars, propelling them upward far away from whence they came. Houses start to fling, and people are thrown in the air from big gusts of wind. Millions of pieces of debris, from the houses, are flying everywhere. As the winds calm, and the tides go back in, the carnage that has been left behind is visible. The hurricane made some very strange combinations, like cars and buildings smashed together. Wood, tile, and plastic lay on the ground as a sailboat severed into two pieces on the sand. Personal belongings and fragments of peoples lives are scattered lay on the ground for everyone to see. Pictures of families that now have been torn apart, as well as clothes and shoes without owners, are everywhere. One surviving mother sees her child’s baby shoes. Others are praying and thankful to be alive. It’s crazy to think that there are people in the world praying for millions of dollars when some are praying just for their lives. A rainbow appears, as people look up to the sky. Pieces of glass, reflecting on windows and doors, create a paradox of light. One father finds his two children, and they embrace each other. Life goes on. )](http://insert-your-link-here.com))

Invitation to Create #5: A Woman's Work Quote: “Come to yo’ Grandma, honey. Set in her lap lak yo’ use tuh. Yo’ Nanny wouldn’t harm a hair uh yo’ head. She don’t want nobody else to do it neither if she kin help it. Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out. Maybe it’s some place way off in de ocean where de black man is in power, but we don’t know nothin’ but what we see. So de white man throw down de load and tell de n---- man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don’t tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De n---- woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see. Ah been prayin’ fuh it tuh be different wid you. Lawd, Lawd, Lawd!” (p. 14)

Nanny loves her granddaughter so much that she wants a better life for her than what she experienced. Women were not respected for taking care of the house, the family, and their husbands, plus they took care of other people’s homes and children, as well. Yet, these black women were not respected unless they were pretty. Then, they would be more desirable and would attract a more desirable man, one who has money and status. Only if the husband had money and status could his wife achieve respect and status in the community. Black women were slaves in their own homes, because of their black husband’s expectations. Back in those days, people were mean to single women, which is why they felt pressured to marry someone just to be getting married. In those days, women didn’t have the ability to get to know their future husbands before they married them. If they don’t know them well, there was a chance they would be miserable forlife. There was no divorce, so the women stayed in abusive marriages. Men could do whatever they wanted to do. Women were taught not to pursue an education, because men marry down and women marry up. Women were not supposed to be better educated and smarter than the man, because his ego could not take it. Women were taught to look pretty and do women’s work: cooking, cleaning, taking the children to school, while the men were the breadwinners and brought home the money. Women were unpaid, yet their work was just as important as men’s work. Men being thought of as superior was not a good basis for a lasting relationship. Equality worked better for a relationship. If both people are not happy, no one is happy. By belittling oneself and not showing who you are as a person, the people in the relationship cannot blossom, individually and as a couple. The great thing about the Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 - 1920, was it focused on women becoming leaders in the community. They were trained politically so they could fight for equal pay and equal rights. Susan B. Anthony said, “No self-respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party that ignores her sex.” The pace of change was very slow, but every new generation of women picked up the slack and became more demanding and aggressive. They needed to be taken seriously. Getting the right to vote helped them play a greater role in society.

The man looks to the stars for answers. He looks back and tells her to put her head down to the ground. She looks at her hands, worn with time, As the bone almost sticks out Of her supple, thin skin. It seems as if only men can dream big, Because they are taught to dream big. Men try to reach for the impossible As women have to grasp on to what should be meant for them. Men have women’s lives all figured out. Men think that women should be so lucky That they don’t have to go out to work everyday. To be out in the workforce is a woman’s dream But men seem to think that it would be a nightmare. Every man seems to have a dream of getting rich And buying things that they can’t afford. Women have dreams of staying alive until after they are sixty, If they make it until then, And watching their children realize their dreams. After the children go off to college And continue on into adulthood The women get to finally relax In their thirty year old leather recliner With their nails done and a new hair do, Watching James Dean on screen. But, guess again, they are picking up the ashtrays Of the old retired men As they lay ash by ash Counting down the days they have left on earth. Little do they know that the wives are counting it, too.