| My hard drive is filling up, so I have been looking for things to delete, like some of my old school papers. I found this in a paper I wrote for senior seminar about how Ouachita affected me outside of my major (written after graduation, actually): "One of my main reasons for transferring to Ouachita [after my junior year] was that I was very interested in music, and there were many opportunities at Ouachita for participating in music. I auditioned for and was accepted into the Ouachita Singers, much to my own surprise. Singing with that group has been one of the greatest privileges of my life so far. Not just singing in the governor’s mansion at Christmas, or with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, or even in Germany, but just walking into rehearsal every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1, was an incredible experience for me. Being a part of that group was a constant reminder of the joy that I find in music, and especially in participating in producing the kind of beautiful music we could make. I am a computer programmer, and that is what I want to be, but rarely does God give us only a single skill or interest or purpose. He made a world with a great many things to enjoy, and he wants us to enjoy them. Being in Singers was also a classic metaphor for the power of a team over an individual: I may not personally have the greatest voice, but added to the 50 other voices with whom it was my privilege to sing, my voice became a part of something truly amazing, that I could never achieve on my own. At the same time, I was accountable to those other 50 voices, because they relied on me, as I relied on them, to do my part in creating the whole. It was a great responsibility that I took very seriously, and I believe that accountability to each other is what makes the Ouachita Singers a family, and an incredible musical group as well." I had almost forgotten how very much I miss that. Thanks to everyone who made 1 pm Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the best times of my week for two years. |
