The many ways a cello can break

Life lessons I learned after my tuner peg flew off my cello at orchestra rehearsal Monday. Broken I’ve been reflecting on fears, and the many limits of humans after this incident. As a cellist/musician, one of my deepest fears is that my instrument breaks (and heaven forbid it break in front of other people!!!). Well,

How’s your soul?

This summer I came across Thomas Cole’s set of paintings, entitled The Voyage of Life, at the National Gallery of Art. His four paintings depict the four stages of life: childhood, youth, manhood, an old age. These magnificent paintings impressed upon me the importance of caring for your soul. Our bodies will age and our

Living As Best as Possible- Thoughts on War and Healing

“I feel in the profoundest sense that nothing can ever be the same – that, as artists, we are traitors if we feel otherwise: we have to take it into account and find new expressions, new moulds for our thoughts and feelings.” -Katherine Mansfield Deep Scars from the ‘Great War’ My European Military History class this week

Thoughts on Beautiful Things

I love Japanese animation and just watched Mary and the Witch’s Flower. Also, I recently re-read The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (my favorite book ever). It’s a fun novel that explores the reasons and ways humans enjoy beauty. Because of this, my mind is currently a jumble of Japanese animation and French

Free as a Fish- On Changing Perspectives

Change your Perspective The world is so much larger than our thoughts. I have noticed my thoughts are oftentimes repetitive and inaccurate, creating negative feedback loops that sabotage my efforts. A way I combat this is through changing my thought pattern. Perspective is important to understand in order to obtain peace with life. Often, the

On Mediocrity- Maybe It’s Ok to Just be Ok

why I still pursue artistic hobbies, despite my many epic fails Today I painted one of Van Gogh’s self-portraits with oil paints. I am not quite finished with it, but am semi-pleased with how it’s coming together so far. Throughout the day I kept returning to the easel and squinted at Van Gogh. The painting