recalcitrance

this morning, the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced.
the Pulitzer Prize has long been regarded as the highest national honor in newspaper journalism, literary achievements and musical composition.

looking through the list of winners, one caught my eye.
the winner of the feature writing category - Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times.

the story can be found here...

http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article750838.ece

what happened was a 7 yr old girl was found living in a home with faeces of cats, dogs and humans smeared all over the wall.
wrapped up in diapers which were past saturated in a room with a four foot high mountain of use diapers.
the floor, freezer and basically everywhere else was filled with roaches, it was impossible to walk a step without crushing a few.

the girl was saved and placed in a foster home.
some kind soul adopted her and since then, she improved a lot.

because 85% of the human brain develops in the first five years of a human,
she was considered to be severely mentally retarded.
though she wasn't autistic or psychotic, she can hardly make sounds, not to mention speaking.


its so tough to think about the possibility of such people living in third world countries, let alone in the country with the most spending power (aka the USA).

quite disturbed by it.
but nonetheless, i'm glad at least this one got saved.

some unknown 47 yr old woman became the hot search this week on youtube.
with over 12 million views on her videos.

she's Susan Boyle, one of the contestants on Britain's Got Talent this year.

i shall let the video do the talking (or singing).

=)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR_N9iljeMk

this video is definitely worthy of your 7 minutes.
so sit back and enjoy.

to all my juniors,
good job!
i really enjoyed the performance! =)

i remembered my SYF (or any other competitions) quite clearly.
which part of it you may ask.
i dont really rmb the exact day, but i remembered:

how we toiled and practiced everyday.
how we all became better musicians than before the SYF.
how we all got to become such great friends with each other.
how we all look back on this journey and not remember what we lost, but what we gained.

its the journey that matters more.
and its the memory of it that will seriously be with us for a very long time.

a very meaningful song I'd like to dedicate to everyone i know.
to my bestest friends and all the marist band family.
for all the memories you've given me.
be it good or bad, you guys definitely made a difference in my life.
and to all the juniors in MSSB, good job and you guys definitely made the big band family proud.

Carrie Underwood - Whenever You Remember

When you look back on times we had
I hope you smile
And know that through the good and through the bad
I was on your side when nobody could hold us down
We claimed the brightest star
And we, we came so far
And no they won’t forget

(Chorus)
Whenever you remember times gone by
Remember how we held our heads so high
When all this world was there for us
And we believe that we could touch the sky
Whenever you remember, I’ll be there
Remember how we reached that dream together
Whenever you remember

When you think back on all we’ve done
I hope you’re proud
When you look back and see how far we’ve come
It was our time to shine
And nobody could hold us down
They thought they’d see us fall
But we, we stood so tall
And no we won’t forget

Whenever you remember times gone by
Remember how we held our heads so high
When all this world was there for us
And we believe that we could touch the sky
Whenever you remember, I’ll be there
Remember how we reached that dream together
Whenever you remember

Yeahhh, Ooohh

We claimed the brightest star
And we, we came so far
And know that we showed them all
And no they won’t forget

Yeahhh

Whenever you remember times gone by
Remember how we held our heads so high
When all this world was there for us
And we believe that we could touch the sky
Whenever you remember, I’ll be there
Remember how we reached that dream together
Whenever you remember

Whenever you remember

Ooohh, whenever you remember



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For some life lasts a short while, but the memories it holds last forever.
- Laura Swenson