Penguin Smiles!

Hello and welcome to the Tuesday show. All Tuesday, all... day.Yep. Let's dive right into the questions, shall we? Here we go.

What's your favorite birthday memory?
Hm, hard one. I would probably have to say the night of my 17th birthday, last summer. I'd been hired to play in the pit for a really top-notch production of a musical called Grand Hotel, and opening night just happened to coincide with my birthday. After a week of nightly 4-hour rehearsals, it was wonderful to be able to just play the show and be done. Even better, I had played really well and was pretty proud of myself. Best of all, I was getting paid for it-- a reasonable amount, like a real professional musician. The whole way home I just couldn't shake the feeling that I was "living the dream." The fact that opening night happened on my birthday seemed like an omen to me, a sign that this was what I was meant to do. It felt pretty darn good.

What drew you to Nerdfighteria?
Well, I'd heard the term "nerdfighter" used on YouTube a lot, but I didn't really know what it meant. I found the Volgbrothers sort of by chance several months ago. I loved their videos because they always had something interesting to say, and an entertaining way of saying it. I was hooked, and I've been a nerdfighter ever since.

What colour would you paint the sky?
Since the sky can be a lot of colors naturally, I decided to pick a color that the sky pretty much never is: green. Then I would paint the world blue and confuse everyone.

Where has been your favorite place you've traveled to?
Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Last semester my dad and I took a road trip to visit some potential colleges, and I just fell in love with Westmont. It's a magical, incredible little place. (I especially love the fact that you can see the ocean from campus; a treat for a Colorado girl like me.) If I can afford it, that's where I'll be going this fall.

However, if we're talking vacation destinations, it's a tie between Hawai'i and Washington Island.

In a utopian's society that you create, what role, if any, would emperor penguins play in it?
Since penguin smiles would be our main source of energy, pretty much all of civilization would depend on them. A lot of resources would have to be put into keeping them happy and smiling. It's the perfect solution to the energy crisis because a) everyone will have plenty of energy and b) no environmentalist is going to argue with smiling penguins.

Theme time!

World suck, well, sucks. There's no way around it.  At my church, in addition to the regular tithe offering, we have a once-a-month "Watch Care Offering", the proceeds of which go to help people who are struggling financially within the local community. I try to donate regularly because I think it's a great way to help decrease world suck right here in my city (although of course, I've only just recently come to use the term "world suck").

I have some thoughts for the future of battling world suck, but it's a long ways off so it's still just an idea at this point. There are a lot of places here in the United States where young people have no motivation to succeed, or finish school or whatever. That's a really sad thing. It sucks.

However, I know of something proven to combat apathy: music. One day, I'd like to work with (if not create) an organization that brings quality music education into poorer communities that wouldn't otherwise have such a thing. Not only will this expose children to the arts (a good thing in itself), but I firmly believe that music education teaches discipline and motivation, and would help them in every aspect of their lives. I really think that teaching children to create and to care early in life will keep them creating and caring for as long as they live. And that might be just the motivation they need to succeed in life.

But like I said, it's just an idea. It's out there.

DFTBA,
Emily