The Reincarnation of Nine Mile Island

            I am not sure how to begin, my band, Nine Mile Island, started freshman year of high school. We were just a random group of friends, not great friends or anything, but the kind of people that you only hang out with at school. We started out with a few covers and a really terrible original or two, and it was pretty much just an excuse to goof off and hang out with some people. We quickly became great friends, adding others to the band along the way just to keep all of us included in some way when we would shows. The addition of a “manager,” a fellow who does blacksmithing and occasionally played the tambourine and a serious guitarist joined our group, the first because he wanted to be included backstage and the other because we needed a second guitarist who could play solos.

This is when we started to get serious, or at least form a semi-legitimate band. We actually started writing songs, but most practices only lasted about half an hour, after that we would all go down to the river to swim. Somehow, people seemed to like our songs and we actually amassed a following. Ranging from middle school girls to grandmothers and grandfathers, we had a strange audience at shows. We then started to write more songs and get better gigs.

Being too young to play at bars, we were forced to play birthday parties, festivals, and small venues that allow underage shows. Many times we struggled to sell tickets and got little in return, but we were playing for larger and larger crowds that actually liked our music. Eventually, it got boring and difficult playing in the same places repeatedly and trying to sell tickets to your friends who had seen you perform again and again. Due to our growing popularity, we were offered a shot at playing one of the biggest venues in Richmond called The National.

Going up on the same stage that artists like the Smashing Pumpkins and Paul Simon was a huge deal for us and we busted ass trying to sell tickets to that show. It was one of the most incredible times of my life and one of my fondest memories. We ended up doing it a second time later on and gained access to the newly refurbished headliner’s suite. This night was hands down the coolest night of my life, and Snoop Dogg playing the night after us. Since then, we have recorded and lost some of the excitement that we once had. Everybody had gone to a different school and the band was seeming to come to an end until today, three of us agreed to start writing songs again and for the first time in a very long time I have been truly excited to start playing music again and getting back to the energy level that we once had. 

http://www.reverbnation.com/ninemileisland

Mixing Pot

     I have an odd mixture of influences that somehow combine to make up a vocabulary and sound that helps me communicate with others. I have lived in King William County, a rural area about an hour northeast of Richmond, Virginia since I was four years old. My town is not very diverse; it is pretty much black and white. On the other hand I attended a college prep school in Richmond and received a better education than the schools in my area offer. I have also spent summers in Massachusetts since I was a little kid. From living in Virginia one almost automatically uses words like “y’all” but living where I live I use picked up words like “ain’t”, “jank”, “thang”, “loo” (look), “mai” (man), and “dat”. I would get odd looks from teachers when I used these words in school and have to consciously make an effort to drop these words from my vocabulary when trying to make a good impression. At work, where I live, I would be asked to “put it simpler” and not use such big words. In order to add to the confusion, I would sometimes respond in French, or if my boss started spitting out his mountain gibberish just to let him know that nobody could understand his mumbles. Every time I go to Massachusetts people poke fun at the way I talk. I say y’all and they say you guys. But going there has changed the way I talk, like any foreign region they have a different accent and use different words. Over the years I have picked up common words from there such as “Deeze”, “wicked”, and “mass”. For example: These doughnuts are wicked deeze, but there are mass people here, lets bail. I do not necessarily have pride in the way I talk. I change the way I speak to appear more respectable, but only when I deem necessary. I prefer to talk in my normal way, but I realize there are times when it is just not appropriate. 

Apples to Cabbage

    When one thinks of literacy one might think of one’s ability to read, write, and comprehend material efficiently. Generally this is how I think of it but only in an academic setting. I believe that there are different forms of literacy but schools only have the capabilities to test ones ability to read, write, and comprehend. For instance, at every job I have worked there is a different kind of lingo associated with it, for two summers I worked as a dockhand at a marina. Putting boats in and out of the water and maneuvering them around required cooperation and good communication. We handled customer’s million dollar boats with forklifts specially designed for lifting and moving boats from their multi story bunk racks down into the water and back. Using a mixture of hand signals and shouts we quickly lifted, lowered, launched, maneuvered, docked, and washed hundreds of boats a day without incident. This type of skill neither be taught nor tested in school. It is not particularly difficult but not everyone can do it. There are many kinds of things like this one out there in the real world that school does not and can not teach you how to do. The key it seems is to be able to combine both skills, but I can only speculate as I have not yet entered my profession. The employment opportunities that I have had thus far have only required the communication and none of the polish that one learns in school. I have not had to write for any job so far and given the choice between the hands on approach or the polished school approach I would rather have the hands on practical skills. There are plenty of people out there that are educated and unintelligent. And then people who do not need an education to be intelligent. Natural common sense is much more highly regarded for me than any knowledge picked up in a text book. 

Faceplant

     Here at Charlotte, I have not had the best time adjusting to my new life. Please do not misunderstand me, I do like it here and I know that everything will become second nature once I spend enough time here, but things are getting ridiculous. After a shaky academic start to my day I went to go turn in my immunization records and get a new parking pass for the car I borrowed because my car broke down a couple of hours before I had planned on returning to school Monday. On my way to the parking services building the front brake on my bike locked up and sent me soaring face first into the gravel in front of Colvard and Reese. I spent the next few hours in the student health center getting stitches and a tetanus shot. Honestly it is not a big deal but on top of the luck I have been having it is the icing on the cake, the last nail, syrup on the pancake, whichever you prefer. Since coming here I have realized just how lucky I have been so far in my life. I somehow graduated from one of the top private schools in Virginia and have had many great experiences because of it. I really did not appreciate my school and all of the help they gave until I got here and I am thankful that my parents put forth the effort to send me there even though they had to drive me an hour to get me there every morning. I know that I have had good opportunities and backing with the choices I make and am doing my best to live up to my expectations. 

Freshman Blues

As a new student transferring into UNCC from J Sargent Reynolds Community College I was not mentally prepared for the experience I would have when I reached Charlotte. From the last few weeks of the my high school career until I started here I worked full time. I took chemistry and calculus after work to try to keep up with the demanding curriculum requirements of the engineering program, but there was never any assigned work and to be completely honest I skipped quite a few of those classes. Now I find myself in Charlotte without an adviser and with very little help offered by the school. I am still not used to having to think about due assignments as is apparent by the lateness of this blog and trying to get into classes has been nearly impossible. I know there are people here who have been away from it longer than I have but it is quite tricky coming in halfway through the year in a city, in a new state, at a new school, and not knowing a single person previous to my arrival here. I am excited about my future, but so far the start has been very shaky.