Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Thank you for the music

As those who know me are aware, I am quite the music snob. I think that Bob Dylan should be revered, along with Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire and the Avett Brothers (did anyone watch the Grammy's? INCREDIBLE!). I prefer live music and the lyrics have to be good. With this being said, going to college oh so close to Burlington, Vermont has been a great life choice. Plattsburgh, New York doesn't get so many concerts and I live an hour away, making Burlington my concert mecca. Here I have seen the aforementioned Bob Dylan, the Swell Season, and Matt Costa. They were all great shows.

I am also fortunate because St. Michael's puts on a lovely concert for us hardworking students every spring. In the fall everyone votes for an artist and our Student Association is in charge of finalizing plans. I am so happy to say that this year Grace Potter & the Nocturnals are coming. I don't know how many of you are familiar with their music but they are wonderful. Watch this:


Great, right? Grace is a Vermont native so there is much excitement about her coming. So, to sum up, if you are looking for good music, Burlington is the place to come!! Stay warm!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Such is the way of the world

Hello, I hope that the second month of the new year is off to a good start. It has been two and a half months since I have been in my favorite place, the Amazon jungle. So, because I have been missing the vibrant green and unbearable humidity I looked for solace in ABC's new show, Off the Map. It is about three American doctors who go to the Amazon to practice medicine. As an avid and semi-fanatic watcher of Grey's Anatomy, I had high expectations for this show by the same creator. This was the first mistake.

The series starts with a cab labeled "jungle taxi," pulling into the clinic. One, there aren't any taxis in the jungle. Two, if there were the side door would not have English writing on it. But this is only the first annoyance. The three new doctors who knew they were going to Latin America don't speak Spanish but believe that they will save everybody. The doctors use coconuts for IVs. Now, I don't know if this is possible but I can just imagine what Americans will now think about medicine in South America. And most annoying of all the female characters were very short shorts and tank tops. They would all have malaria and sunburns in an instant.

It's a weird feeling to see and hear incorrect things about a place you have lived in. When I was in the jungle, two times and in three different places, my experience was very different. Indigenous people weren't injured from hangliding or falling into a river only to be hit by a falling boulder. I know that television shows are never very realistic but this is just perpetuating stereotypes that people have about natives.

So to conclude, don't believe everything you see on television, especially when it is a medical drama based in the Amazon jungle. Oh and by the way, the show is filmed in Hawaii. It makes a lot of sense to me too.