It Feels Like Yesterday...

September 11, 2013 

The time was 7:50 and I was sitting outside my Music Theory Room in Catlett Music Center on the campus of The University of Oklahoma. It was a Tuesday morning and I was waiting for my aural skills Music Theory class that began at 8am. My professor, Dr. Stephenson, was known for starting on time and for never cancelling a class. Even though, I was just a freshman, this became apparent to me within the first week of school. There were about 15-20 of us sitting in the hallway waiting for the classroom doors to open. I remember us all keep checking our watches and wondering what was going on. Yet in those 10-15 minutes the rest of the 150 member class didn’t arrive like usual. Finally, around 8:05 a secretary from the School of Music office came and told us that class and been cancelled and to go back to your dorms/ house immediately. One guy asked her why and with tears in her eyes she said “New York City has been attacked”.

My family and I had been to New York City several times in my youth so this spoke to me immediately and I think I walked faster back to my dorm on the opposite end of campus that day than I did my entire career at OU. When I got back to my dorm the news broadcast was already on one of the big screens in the lobby. It was then that I discovered that The World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. It was in that moment at 7:46 central time that America changed FOREVER! I decided to go back up to my actual dorm room to watch it on my own TV.

June 1999

Just 2 years before this, my family and I had visited New York City and we were able to go up into The World Trade Center and actually walked around the top floor 110 stories above the ground. During this trip we tried to fit in EVERY OUNCE of NYC as we could since the trip before this was basically “RAINED OUT”. We did Broadway shows, baseball games (of course) and so much more. But it was late one night in our trip that we FINALLY got over to The World Trade Center. It was about 8:45pm and the Observation Deck closed at 9. We saw a sign stating “The last elevator leaves at 8:45pm.” We had missed our opportunity to go to THE TOP OF THE WORLD! I can remember my little sister Allison, who was only 10 at the time, started crying and I too was pretty upset. Out of nowhere came the nice Middle Eastern man who said “I will take you guys to the TOP OF THE WORLD”

This is a scene that we saw from the "TOP OF THE WORLD" on the 110 floor Observation Deck of The World Trade Center

We were all so very thankful and appreciative to this gentleman. For the life of me (and my family) we cannot remember this man’s name but his legacy still lives with us. We got to the top and we were able to walk around the inside 109 floor which was actually called “The TOP OF THE WORLD” and then we rode the elevator 1 more story up to the 110 floor and went outside. The sight was something I truly will NEVER forget. We had been in many skyscrapers around the United States but this one was different, for whatever reason. It was beautiful to look out on one of the best cities in the world and see all of it lit up in the night light! I remember my grandma now beginning to cry at the beauty of the city. It was incredible.

September 2001 

Now over 2 years had passed and it was Tuesday, September 11, 2001 and 1 of the 2 World Trade Center Towers had been hit by a High-jacked plane. I sat in my dorm room just in tears as all of the news footage came in of the damages and live-lost. Close to 30 minutes passed and I then watched the 2^nd tower get hit LIVE. This is something I will NEVER forget as long as I live. It was a terrible scene and picture and I still think about it often, especially on the annual anniversary. My grandpa used to tell me stories of where he was when JFK got shot or where he was on the day The Challenger exploded and now I will have a story to share with my grandkids. 

A scene that will be in my mind for the rest of my life...

This may be the most ICONIC photo of that day in 2001!

September 2013 

It seems like only YESTERDAY this event took place yet somehow, 12 years have passed! In the past 12 years my life has changed drastically. I was barely 19 at the time of tragedy and here I sit today 31 years old. I am a college graduate, with a Master’s degree; married to a wonderful man for 7 years; have 2 AMAZING kids and have been teaching 9 of those 12 years. Yet somehow, it feels like ONLY yesterday that I sat in my small dorm room watching this event unfold LIVE!

Just 12 years later...This is what the 9-11 Memorial will look like when it is complete

As each year passes by and this anniversary creeps up on me again, I am brought to my knees in prayer for the families that this tragedy touched. I say prayers of Thanksgiving that my family was NOT involved but I cannot even begin to imagine the pain and suffering the families that WERE involved go through on this day. It is for those families of the over 3,000 individual lives lost that I dedicate my thoughts and prayers to you! May God be with all of you today, and always! God is in control and even in a terrible crisis and tragedy such as this, HE ALWAYS HAS A PLAN!

Thank you, Lord for the past 12 years! I am so BLESSED and it is ALL for YOUR Glory!

God is good… ALL the Time!

Music Education Failure

The Thirtieth Olympiad- London, England

Chris and I have really enjoyed watching the Olympics these past few weeks. In fact both of us have basically just sat around for two weeks watching the games. Each afternoon we would have a full DVR of Olympic coverage from London. The first week of the games we were glued to the TV watching the swimming and the gymnastics events. It was awesome to see Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps compete against each other in the swimming pool and amazing to see the tiny gymnasts tumble and flip all over and how can I forget the "Three-peat" gold by the US Women's Beach Volleyball team of Kari Walsh and Misty May! However, what was the best was watching the USA win not only so many medals but so many GOLDS!

I am a very proud American and I consider myself to be very patriotic. I found myself tearing up during each medal ceremony as our national anthem was played (although I did not care for the arrangement that was being played). But some of these years were not just for the national anthem, it was for the lack of patriotism and participation from our very own Olympic athletes. I think I was able to watch at least 15-20 gold Medal ceremonies and probably during 90% of them the athletes not only didn't sing The Star Spangled Banner but some didn't even put their hand over their heart.

It was sad to see some the best athletes in the world just stand there with no emotion on their face as the national anthem from the country they were representing was playing. I know winning a gold medal is a huge achievement but they were not only winning medals for themselves they were winning them for the entire country. As they stood on the victory platform they were representing the millions of Americans that could not be there or perform the events they could and singing the national anthem and participating in its functions shows all of American and the world that they are there for a greater cause. 

I was very disappointed as a fellow American but even more so as a Music Educator. I feel it is my job as a Music Teacher to instill a passion for music into all of the children I teach. In fact, now that I am solely teaching General Classroom music, that is my primary goal and philosophy inside my classroom. I want to make sure that when students leave my class at the end of they year that they have a Love for music. Of course I want them to learn to read music and play recorders and laundry list of other things but at this age, I want them to LOVE music. But I also feel that as an AMERICAN Music Educator it is my job to teach our students about the history of our Nation in the music department. First and foremost is the history and the story behind our National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner. 

Every year on September 14th our nation's elementary music classrooms celebrate "National Anthem Day". This is a day where music educators all over the USA teach their kids about the history of The Star Spangled Banner, its lyrics and it melody. I have for all 7 years of my teaching had a very special activity on this day and even made it into a week-long event that incorporates September 11th and it's history as well. I have activities and games that we play about the words of the song. We have competitions in the order grades to see who can complete the lyrics the fastest on the Smartboard. We have "Sing-offs" in our choral time and lots of other stuff. But as much as I do I was shocked to see these 20 and 30 year olds at the Olympics not sing the words to The Star Spangled Banner, I don't know if it was because they don't KNOW the words or just didn't sing/ say them but either way I feel it is a disgrace to our country. 

Some athletes were as young as 16 and 17 years old and still didn't know the words to the song. I watched as young female phenom Missy Franklin stood on the podium of her Gold Medal ceremony and did not sing or even mouth the words. She is young enough that she should have been getting the education about The Star Spangled Banner during "National Anthem Day" which started to rise in popularity in Elementary Music Classrooms around the nation in 2003. 

I know I am on a soap-box here but I am appalled at the lack of participation and Patriotism from our athletes on that aspect of the Thirtieth Olympiad. I feel as a Music Educator we are not fulfilling our job requirements and I think this needs to be addressed ASAP! I know I will continue to do my part and I can only hope and pray other music educator and teachers in general will do the same. 

I am PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN and I will continue to help our children feel the same way! 

God BLESS THE USA! 

God is good... All the time!