I think that many inventions, as low quality as they seem, have been essential to what we have today. Things like the phonautograph, phonograph, the tape recorder, and even instruments like the Theremin. We are going to come up with something new. I know it! The first step has already been taken. It was taken over a hundred years ago. Everything up to where we are now has been based off of the thing before. We are going to have something new and cool, something that will progress electronic music further, shooting it past everything we have now.

The first invention that was related to electronic music, was the phonautograph,
which was invented in 1857 by a man known as Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (25 April 1817 – 26 April 1879).
This demonstrated that ambient sound waves could be traced as a visual image through the vibrations of a bristle on a sheet of soot-covered paper, known as a phonautogram. The funny thing about the Phonautograph though, is the lack of knowledge about who really started it. The first thing that people say when you mention the phonautograph, is, “phonograph?” No. That was an early invention, but was invented by Thomas Edison about twenty years later.

The phonautograph was incredible for its time, but though it was an evolutionary invention, it was essentially incomplete. It was able to record sounds, but was unable to play them back. Therefore giving a sheet of the sound wave (http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu), but since there was no way to play it back, the only way to hear the sound, was from the original source itself.

This, “phonautograph,” was continued in its expedition towards greatness, with the help of Rudolph Koenig (November 26, 1832 – October 2, 1901). In 1865 he began to “manufacture” phonautographs, and sell them. Koenig not only sold them, but also began to experiment with the recording of sounds (http://www.ieeeghn.org). Joseph Henry, for example, owned one, and it is today preserved in the Smithsonian Institution. A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology named Charles Cross experimented with one, and he and his student Charles Morey made improvements to it some time before 1874. (http://www.ieeeghn.org) I couldn’t find exactly what “improvements” they made but judging by the word improvement, it had to be good. In the summer of 1874, one of Bell’s associates supplied him with the ear and part of the skull of a dead man. Bell attempted to attach a recording stylus to the ear and use it to inscribe a line on a smoked-glass plate. It worked, and when Bell shouted into the dead man’s ear, the stylus recorded his speech on the glass. Nothing became of the ear phonautograph, but it may be the only case of a body part being used in making a sound recording. Nowadays that would be pretty cool. Think about it. You could totally make a robot out of that! you know, put the ears on a robot, and it would read the sound waves and output a logical response or a pre-recorded “yes,” or, “no.” wouldn’t that be awesome?!

Have any of you heard of the Telharmonium? In 1906, Thaddeus Cahill first presented his 200 ton Telharmonium in New York. It was 60 feet in length and cost $200,000 (http://www.digital-daydreams.com).
Wow, that must have been pretty hard to move. I don’t know if they did ever move it, but having a 200 ton machine that cost $200,000 (approximately $12 million in today’s money) must have been pretty exciting. It consisted of shafts and inductors that produced alternating currents of different audio frequencies using electromagnets to imitate musical tones. The idea was that people could subscribe to a service and music would be played to them down the phone lines (http://www.digital-daydreams.com). It didn’t do very well partially due to the fact that the music sounded horrendous through the phone lines. But it also interfered with the phone lines themselves, and sometimes blew out the switching systems. I believe that made it kind of hard to switch between the two kinds of things you got from the phone. That would be an awesome service today, but it would, most likely, end up in the same boat as before, mainly because of all the different ways people can listen to music. And with the Internet around, any kind of service over the phone besides Internet and talking, is pointless. Though it was a great idea, the company went bankrupt just before the Great War (http://www.digital-daydreams.com)

Another large step in the direction of progression was the invention of, in my opinion, the most interesting instrument ever made. Léon Theremin (born Lev Sergeyevich Termen) (27 August [O.S. 15 August] 1896 – 3 November 1993) had created the instrument called the Theremin. It was the only instrument that was able to be played without touching it. He invented many different devices, but it is the instrument that bears his name that has assured his memory in the collective minds of musicians, engineers and trivia lovers the world over. Now I’ve never actually played a Theremin, but I have seen it played live, and what an eerie experience it was! The Theremin had many uses other than music. It has been used in many movies as well. Ever hear that creepy alien sound whenever a spaceship showed up in late 70’s – early 80’s sci-fi movies? Yep, the Theremin is behind that. The awesome thing about it though, is it wasn’t used only for the “electronic synth” sound that it produced, as it was used to arrange and perform classical music.

On 11 March 1913, futurist Luigi Rossolo published his manifesto “The Art of Noises”. In 1914, he held the first “art-of-noises” concert in Milan on April 21. In 1907, just a year after the invention of the triode audion, Ferruccio Busoni published Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music, which discussed the use of electrical and other new sound sources in future music. He wrote of the future of microtonal scales in music, made possible by Cahill’s Dynamophone.

There were quite a few things that added to the progression of electronic music, some of which were inventions, some ideas, each equally helpful to the electronic scene. There were three things, though, that were heavily noted and probably the biggest ideas when it comes to electronic music. The first being tape recorders, second being music concrete, and third being stochastic music.

AEG presents Magnetophon K1 and Magnetophon band Type C at the Berlin exhibition in summer 1935.The machine created instant sensation (http://vintagecassettes.com). This was essentially the beginning of a new world of electronic music as this was the first cassette player, or tape recorder.

Composers in Paris began to use the tape recorder to start a new type of music, called Musique concrète. This style is like the beginning of the way we record music today in a way of recording industrial and natural sounds. It was the idea of recording random sounds, or “controlled sounds” and tweaking them to make songs. They could speed sounds up; they could slow them down; they could make them louder or quieter; they could repeat a sound, cut pieces out of it, and filter it. So they could take concrete sounds; sounds from real life objects. They could use any sound from real life – and turn it into music. Once you had learned how to cut and edit tape using a razor blade; once you had the patience to sit for hours, recording, altering tape speed, re-recording, cutting, sorting, joining tiny pieces of tape to make your finished work; once you had wasted a few hours getting two (or three) mechanical tape recorders to start at the same time, you could get your music to sound something like you wanted (http://www.musiqueconcrete.co.uk). People began to make full on songs using natural and “plastic” sounds. Broadcast composer Pierre Schaeffer’s Etude aux chemins de fer. Marked the beginning of studio realizations. Schaeffer employed a disk-cutting lathe, four turntables, a four-channel mixer, filters, an echo chamber, and a mobile recording unit. Henry began collaborating with Schaeffer, a partnership that would have profound and lasting effects on the direction of electronic music. Karheinz Stockhausen and others were also experimenting in Cologne. They were among a number of musicians around Europe and beyond who began to see that the gramophone and tape recorder were the start of something new in the world of musical composition.

Around 1957 a couple of Studio Managers in the BBC Drama department, Daphne Oram and Desmond Briscoe, recognized the need for the BBC to have a facility to make unusual and unreal sound effects to add a new dimension to drama, both on television and on Radio. In 1958 the BBC Radio phonic Workshop was formed. It wasn’t long before the Workshop was also delivering a whole new genre of music for TV and radio. Some of the most pioneering advances in musical creativity were inspired there. Among many bands and artists to be directly inspired by some of the workshop’s composers are acts including: The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and, more recently, Sonic Boom. This is like a self-explanatory advancement towards where we are now. Using the new-found ability to record sounds, cut apart tapes and turn them into songs, the idea of making money off of it started to form. Television music had changed, as well as the formation of an entirely new genre of music, as well as assisting bands in their own journey down the epic boardwalk of sound entertainment.

Out of an early 50s Tokyo-based composers’ group called “Jikken Kobo” (Experimental Workshop) came the first Japanese electronic and mixed-media works. The group, comprised of Joji Yuasa, Toru Takemitsu, Hiroshi Suzuki and Kasuo Fukushima, received assistance from Tokyo Tushin Kogyo (now the Sony Corp) (Gabel). Now, this is pretty interesting, because I didn’t know Sony stretched that far back. Or that it started out, mainly, about tape recording, seeing as it grew into one of the biggest multi-media companies in the world today.

Other composers and engineers soon began tape-music experiments at NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp). Toshiro Mayuzumi, returned from working with Schaeffer in Paris, and continued his work at NHK. Other young composers, returning from Cologne and New York with their new tape works, attracted growing interest to electronic music in Japan (Gabel). They really wanted to get out there didn’t they? I guess they wouldn’t be playing a, big, part in the electronic industry had they not traveled around to showcase their ideas and creations of musical art. Now I am not the biggest fan of Japanese electronic music, but I’m not saying that it’s bad. Seeing as it’s been progressing at the same pace as European electronic music, it just started later in the game. But they do get, “creative,” with their music. Sometimes in ways that I can’t really handle. Though I feel I am not completely “qualified” to judge, seeing as I’ve only heard a few songs that were the typical mainstream techno, by names who I cannot remember.

Recording studios, similar sound studios, and broadcasting studios began to pop up. They were getting popular. “Studio di Fonologia Musicale” was up and running in Milan by 1955, directed by Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna, with engineers Alfredo Lietti and Marino Zuccheri. Since the studio was in the facilities of the Italian Radio Broadcasting, many of the works were commissioned specifically for broadcast (Gabel).

Some other things that were popping up were electronic instruments. Canadian, Hugh Le Caine, perfected his “Electronic Sackbut” in 1948. With perhaps the first truly touch-sensitive electronic keyboard. With it Le Caine was able to get funding for his work from the Canadian National Research Council, which led eventually to his pioneering work on multi-track tape recorders. The precedence of this research funding, which resulted ultimately in the establishment an elaborate studio at the University of Toronto, pointed the way to a commercially viable market for electronic instruments and again RCA was briefly a player (Gabel). Not only did Le Caine invent, possibly, the first touch sensitive keyboard, but his research also lead to multi-track tape recorders and the idea that electronic instruments could be a decent market to make money off of.

Columbia University purchased its first tape recorder—a professional Ampex machine—for the purpose of recording concerts. Vladimir Ussachevsky, who was on the music faculty of Columbia University, was placed in charge of the device, and almost immediately began experimenting with it. Ussachevsky said, “I suddenly realized that the tape recorder could be treated as an instrument of sound transformation.” On Thursday, May 8, 1952, Ussachevsky presented several demonstrations of tape music/effects that he created at his Composers Forum, in the McMillin Theatre at Columbia University. These included Transposition, Reverberation, Experiment, Composition, and Underwater Valse. I have not heard any of these, but I bet they are incredible, especially for the time period in which they were made.

Soon the idea of making music by computers was thought of, bringing a completely new age of music, and possibly revolutionizing the way music is made, heard, felt, and thought of. Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) was the creator of stochastic music. He invented the idea of using computers for the purpose of composing music, instead of using them to manipulate sounds (Mariner). The way he thought of doing this was absolutely incredible, and is a way that probably seemed way too “out there” since using computers for music was still a relatively new thing. His idea was to use mathematical probability systems to create music and pieces (Mariner). Yeah, mathematical probability systems. Keep in mind; this is back in the 1950s. His first major composition called Metastasis (1954), for orchestra, translates lines like those of the Philips Pavilion into huge networks of glissandi (Mariner). The systems he began to devise in the early fifties were partly a reaction against serial technique, which was widely used by other composers at that time. He argued that while serial procedures were basically polyphonic in conception, the complex textures which resulted were heard as “a mass of notes in various registers,” not as polyphony (Mariner). He coined the term stochastic music. As in probability theory, in stochastic music dense textures which he called “clouds” or “galaxies” had so many components that the behavior of each individual component could not be determined (Mariner). In his second orchestral piece Pithoprakhta (1956). The composer likened the principles of stochastic textures to those involved in natural sound phenomena such as “a collision of hail.” (Mariner)

But just to prove that computers were able to play music back in the 1950s, the world’s first computer to play music was CSIRAC which was designed and built by Trevor Pearcey and Maston Beard. Mathematician Geoff Hill programmed the CSIRAC to play popular musical melodies from the very early 1950s. In 1951 it publicly played the Colonel Bogey March of which no known recordings exist.

In 1957, MUSIC, one of the first computer programs to play electronic music, was created by Max Mathews at Bell Laboratories. An important technological development of that year was the invention of the Clavivox synthesizer by Raymond Scott with subassembly by Robert Moog. You may recognize that name if you have seen, heard, or even played a moog synthesizer which is similar to a keyboard but is smaller in size. I did not think that music was even played on computers until the late 1970s to early 1980s. Even though the computers back then were walls of blinking lights and turnable knobs– those prehistoric machines. I find it incredible, how in the 1920s-1950s time era, the advancement towards electronics and electronically inclined music had increased at random estimate of 100%. (Compared to earlier years). The even more amazing thing is the advancement only got bigger and bigger. It still has not really slowed down.

This next period is a time that is most commonly known as the “expansion” phase: the point where they took what was invented, and improved, expanded, and mastered them. One of the first things that were improved, or that people gained more knowledge about, is the CSIRAC Computer. Most early electronic musical instruments were used to play electronic renditions of standard repertoire and not to create new music. The real history and legacy of electronic music comes from developments which happened at about the same time that CSIRAC was being planned and built (Melbourne School of Engineering). In addition, at the time CSIRAC was being designed and built, John Cage, Pierre Boulez and others were writing advanced instrumental music, developing new composition theories and becoming interested in electronic music. Against this background, but in isolation, CSIRAC first played music. While the musical output of CSIRAC was unimaginative compared to many of the musical developments emerging during its early years, there was considerable imagination required to use a general computing machine to play music and there was a great deal of ingenuity required to devise the techniques and programs to play it (Melbourne School of Engineering). Not only was the computer new, but it was gigantic, and not really “user friendly,” like all the computers we have today. Like the picture above, it was basically a wall of knobs and lights. No mouse or high-def screen to see it on. Even though the computer was not very inventive itself (because of it using mathematical algorithms to create the music), it was still a big player in the kind of music we create today, seeing as it’s, pretty much, the main player when it comes to creating or recording electronic music. You NEED a computer. Otherwise you’re screwed (in terms of making electronic music).

This next period is a time that is most commonly known as the “expansion” phase: the point where they took what was invented, and improved, expanded, and mastered them. One of the first things that were improved, or that people gained more knowledge about, is the CSIRAC Computer. Most early electronic musical instruments were used to play electronic renditions of standard repertoire and not to create new music. The real history and legacy of electronic music comes from developments which happened at about the same time that CSIRAC was being planned and built (Melbourne School of Engineering). In addition, at the time CSIRAC was being designed and built, John Cage, Pierre Boulez and others were writing advanced instrumental music, developing new composition theories and becoming interested in electronic music. Against this background, but in isolation, CSIRAC first played music. While the musical output of CSIRAC was unimaginative compared to many of the musical developments emerging during its early years, there was considerable imagination required to use a general computing machine to play music and there was a great deal of ingenuity required to devise the techniques and programs to play it (Melbourne School of Engineering). Not only was the computer new, but it was gigantic, and not really “user friendly,” like all the computers we have today. Like the picture above, it was basically a wall of knobs and lights. No mouse or high-def screen to see it on. Even though the computer was not very inventive itself (because of it using mathematical algorithms to create the music), it was still a big player in the kind of music we create today, seeing as it’s, pretty much, the main player when it comes to creating or recording electronic music. You NEED a computer. Otherwise you’re screwed (in terms of making electronic music).

Thus began the beginning of mass use of synthesizers. In 1970, Charles Wuorinen composed Time’s Encomium, the first Pulitzer Prize winner for an entirely electronic composition. The 1970s also saw the use of synthesizers in mainstream rock music with examples including Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Yes, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

The Mini-moog was the first commercialized portable synthesizer. Its creator, Robert Moog, got the idea from selling Theremins. He wanted to incorporate the pitch and melodic changes the electronic instrument created. As well as making a new instrument, he wanted it to be portable so that musicians could easily take it on the road (EHOW.com). I know of a few bands today that use Moog synthesizers. They sound pretty awesome and can resemble, very closely, a real piano.

In the early 1980s, bass synthesizers started gaining popularity, being used mainly in electronic dance music, specifically acid house. It is the opinion of a Wikipedia contributor that one of the first to utilize it was Charanjit Singh in 1982, though it wouldn’t be popularized until Phuture’s “Acid Tracks” in 1987 (Wikipedia).

Synthesizers can be used to recreate instrumental sounds and other kinds of sounds, but most people think about them as an electronic keyboard that imitates the sounds of a piano. However, these machines could be used in many different ways. And many professional musicians use synthesizers for imitating sounds of drums and other percussion instruments. If this is the case the synthesizer is usually called a drum machine (ishareevents). Drum machines, in my opinion, are pretty helpful because it allows you to set drum loops, so you can play your instrument solo with a drum beat behind you. If you don’t have a drummer, drum machines are the way to go. Drum machines could be very useful and convenient in many situations. Sometimes during recording sessions a live drummer is unavailable and a drum machine could perfectly substitute him (ishareevents). The best thing about them is they can be programmed with the desired drum beats and then simply turned on when needed (ishareevents).

MIDI was created in the 1980s and is a behind the scenes backbone for a lot of electronic musical instruments today. MIDI (an acronym for “musical instrument digital interface) as its name was ultimately chosen, was first announced to the public in 1982 (http://www.midi.org). In 1983, the MIDI Specification was only about 8 pages long and defined only the most basic instructions one might want to send between two synthesizers: and things like how to play notes and how to control the output volume, etc. (http://www.midi.org). MIDI also enabled computers to be applied to the music-making process. Although the way that MIDI works has not changed since 1983 (also almost preposterously inconceivable), the MIDI protocol has grown to encompass such additional concepts as: standardized MIDI song files, new connection mechanisms such as USB, FireWire, and Wi-Fi; new markets such as mobile phones and video games; and a whole world of ‘alternative’ and ‘performance’ based MIDI products (http://www.midi.org). It’s crazy how much MIDI is used to this day. They’re used in computers, synths, and even video-games! One of my games even requires a MIDI adapter to use my keyboard with. It’s pretty awesome actually, because, from what I understand, it’s just like a macro (automated/ repetitive program used to do something over and over again). But it’s not limited to just that and can be used to save different sounds to different buttons, similar to button/ controller mapping. (Sorry for all the video-game references!). The advent of MIDI technology allows a single keystroke, control wheel motion, pedal movement, or command from a microcomputer to activate every device in the studio remotely and in synchrony, with each device responding according to conditions predetermined by the composer. I actually have a MIDI controller, well it’s not actually mine, but it’s my step-dad’s, and I’ve used it a few times. It has a few pitch knobs, and volume knobs, and it is basically a synthesizer with a different name.

Oddly enough, my synthesizer looked very similar to the one in the picture (to the left), but less sophisticated, and less knobs.

MIDI instruments and software made powerful control of sophisticated instruments easily affordable by many studios and individuals. Acoustic sounds became reintegrated into studios via sampling and sampled-ROM-based instruments.

In the late 1980s, early 1990s, electronic dance music began to boom. Music composed of mainly electronic instruments were becoming increasingly popular, and different styles began to rise.

House music is one of the main genres that are considered “dance” music. “This is the daddy of all dance music genres.” (Nelo). DJ Carl Cox has been quoted as saying that house music is a feeling and if you don’t feel it then it can’t be house (Nelo). house music was first and foremost a direct descendant of disco music had already been going for ten years when the first electronic drum tracks began to appear out of Chicago, and in that time it had already suffered the slings and arrows of merciless commercial music exploitation, dilution and racial and sexual prejudice which culminated in the ‘disco sucks’ campaign (cheeseman). But it wasn’t just American music laying the groundwork for house. European music, spanning English electronic pop like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell and the earlier, more disco based sounds of Giorgio Moroder, Klein & MBO and a thousand Italian productions were immensely popular in urban areas like New York and Chicago. One of the reasons for their popularity was two clubs that had simultaneously broken the barriers of race and sexual preference, two clubs that were to pass on into dance music legend – Chicago’s Warehouse (its name derives from the sound the warehouse parties and, in particular, the Ware House club (Nelo) and Taking root in New York’s black, gay scene clubs such as The Loft and The Paradise Garage which nurtured the ‘house’ sound to a devoted following (Nelo) (cheeseman). But it’s not just the roots that define what house music is. It’s also the sounds that define a genre. Whilst typically characterized by its pianos, vocals, strings, synth stabs and bass lines it is the relentless four-four kick drum that has been house music’s raison d’être for the last twenty years (Nelo).

Techno is another platform of dance music. Techno took its lead from the house music coming out of New York and Chicago (Nelo). There is quite a bit of controversy about techno, as it is the first thing that comes out of one’s mouth when talking about any kind of electronic music. Techno, in itself, is its own sub-genre of electronic music and has its own characteristics that define it. The kind of characteristics that I have found it to be different from the others are, the hit, which is usually sudden and to the point, no fade in or fade out. And it’s usually in a speed of 4/4 or 6/8. On top of that the speed defines what kind of techno it is as well. The usual techno songs are at a faster speed rather than a slow one. In all fairness, it is, (or maybe was) the most popular amongst the masses, seeing as when you talk to any child about electronic music, they continuously call it “techno”. And I can see why, too, because it is the ‘techno’logical term for electronic music.

There are a few other genres that fit into the dance music scene, them being; Trance, Progressive, and Ambient/ Chill out (Nelo). I like all of them but the order I would choose, if I had to pick a top-middle-bottom option, would be Trance, Ambient, and then progressive. I choose trance first because of its fastness and that it sounds, usually, like a soundscape, that gives you an imagination of a large, vast field that spawns an infinite viewpoint. Sometimes, I even get so into it, I forget where I am.

There have been a lot of recent sub-genres popping up, here and there, like trip-hop, DnB, Deep-House, etc. but One that really took off recently was Dubstep. It shot up in, almost less than, a month. Artists like “Skrillex,” gaining mass popularity almost overnight. People consider it the ‘hip-hop’ of electronic music, and there’s no doubt that it’s at least half decent. But the cool thing is, the way that it’s made is implementing synthesizers, electronic music, computers, and MIDI controllers. There are even programs made with virtual copies of all of those (except for computers). All of that wouldn’t be possible without the inventions that were made in the 20th century.

But where are we going? Is there anything left to be made? Or have we reached the limit? It seems as though we’re done with it. But there is always room for improvement. I have some ideas, but they are so way out there, they don’t seem as if they would be possible for the next hundred or so years. I think my favorite would be something similar to the Theremin, but for a ‘standing-in-place’ sort of things. The machine reads your dances and movement, by a sensor. But that’s not the only thing. There are also foot organs. You get a mat that you step on, sort of like dance dance revolution, and you step on combinations of buttons to make different noises.

As many inventions as I can think of though, I don’t, personally, believe that we are going anywhere forward, in terms of inventions. I believe that we are just going to come up with more sub-genres. As inspiring and incredible as electronic music was, I see it as, in a downfall. People aren’t coming up with new ideas; they’re just trying to put a bunch of old ideas into a sandwich made of plastic so they can make a quick buck. There are more MIDI/ synthesizer/ instrument/ recording devices, it seems as though people have lost sight of the idea of improvement. There hasn’t been any real improvement, but more of a squishing of components. Though, if this turns around, and some people gain sight of improvement, I can see a vast amount of inventions that could be born. It’s just all about whenever people get bored. As soon as that happens, we will want something new, and different. And that is the day that we have improvements.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
“The Phonautograph and Precursors to Edison’s Phonograph.”http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu. UC Santa Barbara Library, n.d. Web. 20 Nov 2011. .
“phonautograph.”http://www.ieeeghn.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov 2011. .
doldon, dave. “The History of Mechanical Music.” http://www.doldon.ca. N.p., February 19, 2006 01:14:44. Web. 21 Nov 2011. .
“Music History – Dynamophone/Telharmonium.” http://www.digital-daydreams.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov 2011. .
“Vintage Cassettes.” http://vintagecassettes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov 2011. .
http://www.musiqueconcrete.co.uk. N.p., n.d. Web. .
Gabel, Jack. www.allmusic.com. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Mariner, Justin. “The musical mind of lannis Xenakis.” Scena.org. La Scena Musicale, 01/04/2001. Web. .
“Electronic music and technology at the time of CSIRAC.” Melbourne School of Engineering. N.p., Wednesday, 19-Oct-2011 15:05:12 EST . Web. 9 Jan 2012.

The ending was what specifically got me, and why I didn’t want to do a straight-forward review. I want to talk (or write) a bit about that ending. Here are the circumstances: nuclear plant shift supervisor Jack Godell, played by the phenomenal Jack Lemmon, has come to realize that his plant has some structural issues that could be gravely dangerous to the surrounding area of Southern California. After trying again and again to get the attention of the people in charge, he goes to extreme measures, stealing a gun from a security guard and barricading himself in the control room of the plant. The only thing that will make him leave is if local news reporter Kimberly Wells, played by Jane Fonda, interviews him on national television so that he can reveal once and for all the faultiness of the plant.

This comes after a near-catastrophic accident that Kimberly and her cameraman Richard (Michael Douglas) witnessed at the beginning of the film. The plant attempts a complete cover-up, even refusing to refer to the event as an accident and asserting that no one was ever in danger. Throughout the film, Kimberly and Richard realized what exactly they’d seen and urged Jack to come clean. After some soul searching, Jack recognized that the right thing to do was tell the truth, but the people in power rebuffed him repeatedly.
By the time Jack barricades himself in the control room, he’s at his wit’s end. His bosses agree to the interview, but are secretly positioning SWAT teams to infiltrate the room. Just as a hysterical Jack is about to reveal the truth on national television, the awful accident from the beginning of the film is recreated to distract him while the SWAT team enters the room. Jack is in the frantic process of attempting to stop the “accident” when he is shot multiple times. The plant is nearly destroyed by the event, but manages to gain control at the last minute.

Kimberly and Richard, both in a state of shock after Jack has just died in their arms, wander outside. The streets are crowded with reporters trying to find out what happened. The owner of the plant is molding a swift coverup for the news, telling everyone that Jack Godell was an insane alcoholic who didn’t know what he was talking about and that no one was ever in any danger. Kimberly holds herself together to quickly interview Jack’s closest friend, who reveals that Jack wasn’t insane and was trying to protect everyone. The man is quickly whisked away (and no doubt chastised) by his bosses.

Kimberly turns to the camera and tries to breathe. Tears stream down her face as she clutches the microphone, attempting to pull herself together. She’s still on the air. Richard, watching her through the camera, whispers words of support to Kimberly, even though she can’t hear him. She gives a brief summation of her experience, of her observations of Jack Godell’s honest and warranted concern, of her hope that this event–this accident–will never again occur, before the news cuts back to the studio. Two screens are shown side-by-side: the preview of what’s being filmed in real-time, and the actual footage that’s currently being aired. On the on-air screen, the anchorman cuts to commercial, where a housewife is advertising a microwave pizza.

On the preview screen of real-footage, Kimberly’s tear-streaked face moves towards the camera. Richard appears beside her and wraps her in a hug as she weeps. Their screen cuts to color bars as the commercial plays on the other side, before the entire screen cuts to color bars. They flash for a few seconds, and then the credits roll over silence.

My detailed explanation doesn’t do this ending justice. I had chills running up my arms and tears in my eyes as I watched this. I was stock still, bracing the table as I stared at the screen. This ending was horrifying, beautiful, poignant without being preachy. We saw Jack’s bumbling bravery, Kimberly’s unwavering desire for the truth, Richard’s quiet support. We saw the fallacies being advertised to the masses as the truth was filmed but discarded.
Sometimes the way something is ended serves as the deciding factor for how much I like it, and in the case of “The China Syndrome”, the ending gave me a whole new respect for the film. I may not have absolutely adored the entire movie–as I said above, there were a few moments that dragged, though most of it was pretty fantastic–but that ending. Wow. It was a thing of beauty.

Here’s the Nova PTSA budget report for the month of April.  Look closely and you may see information about projects you’ve been involved in!  Anyone who is interested about how these decisions are made should join Budget Committee Thursdays at 1:30 in Susan’s room.  You have the opportunity to either come to Budget with a proposal for money, or vote on proposals (or do both–you just can’t vote on your own!).  We always love to hear about student-led projects and add new voices to our discussions.

The book was an influential piece encouraging Americans of the 30’s to consider the Chinese as allies when the war against the Japanese that came soon after. Buck brought awareness of the Chinese culture to the United States. I have a great respect for people that have a passion for working towards a better understanding of others cultures. I have a passion for this with bringing the message of God to communities that usually would not have any opportunity to learn about it.

Watching the world around us we can easily see that many people have a passion for spreading “the word”, whatever their word may be. Often times we see it in religious groups who try to convert people. We see this in politics, republican or democrat, even a dictator is trying to spread his ideas (in a infective way may i note). People do this in their writing, as Buck has. Education is spreading a knowledge that the educator believes is relevant and important.

We may think that this book has no relationship or relevance to us. I wondered why I was reading this book at first, and truthfully through the whole book.

Perseverance to escape poverty flows in the heart of the main character, Wang Lung. He had faith in his land and never gave that up through streaks of luck and fortune, and streaks of loss and poverty. He fought his way through and ended up sending his sons to school and buying a lavish home with luxurious furniture and many coy ponds (a proof of riches in China during the 1930’s). All great morals and all quite nice to think about, but what does this have to do with me? How can I relate? I CAN’T!

Until I was long done reading this novel, I didn’t see the relevance. But sometimes we must look at the purpose of the book and not the book itself. I try and spread the love of God, Buck was spreading awareness of an allied culture. I needed to see that similarity and I then became open to what the book had to offer.

This book has given me a newfound appreciation for learning about others cultures so as to learn how to effectively teach my culture. Just as I believe my message is worthy, that person’s word is also worthy. I need to learn from them what I hope they learn from me. So I thank this book for a life long lesson, and I applaud the author for a beautiful piece.

http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Pearl-S-Bucks-The-Good-Earth-at-a-Glance

How did you sign up for health care? What was this experience like?
Because we’re members of Costco, we get access to healthcare through them. The experience involves filling out information, having basic health exam (so they know about any pre-existing conditions). I felt like it was pretty straightforward.

How did you decide which provider to go with? Do you have any tips for people going through this process?
Because we’re self-employed, we’re not part of a larger subscriber group. As a result, monthly premiums [monthly payment that serves as the cost of purchasing health insurance. Is as main source of revenue for insurance providers (Nicholson, n.d.)] will be higher, so I looked for the broadest range of covered services in a price bracket we could afford. I would advise people to find out which in surance companies their providers are contracted with so they stand the best chance of getting covered.

As a self-employed person, how does your healthcare situation differ from others? Do you have any stories about what it was like choosing health care options when you weren’t self-employed?
When you’re not self-employed, you often don’t have a choice about choosing a health plan. Often your employer is already contracted with a health plan, so you’re just on that plan. So that’s a big difference. When you’re self-employed, you can shop around for the best rate and coverage.

How long do you imagine I’ll stay on your plan?
Until you hit the legal age limit, which I think is twenty-three now, but I’m not sure [the age is actually 26 now].

I asked her two other questions. One was about her understanding of the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. She didn’t really know, which is why I didn’t include her answer, but I did a little research on my own. I found out that Medicare is a federal program run through Social Security that is available to all U.S. citizens 65 and older. It’s also provided for people with certain types of disabilities. Unlike Medicaid, it has nothing to do with income. Medicaid, on the other hand, is both a federal and state program that helps low-income people pay for medical care. Since it is funded roughly 50% by the state as well as the federal government, there are fifty varying Medicaid programs (one per state). (Smith, 2010)

The other question I asked her was about family health issues I would need to know for negotiating my own health care. Her answer isn’t relevant, but the issue of pre-existing conditions and family health histories are important pieces of information for people to know as they venture into the world of health care.

Additional information from:

Nicholson, J. (n.d.). What is a healthcare premium. eHow. Retrieved May 7, 2012, from

http://www.ehow.com/about_4688263_what-healthcare-premium.html

Smith, L. (2010, December 12). What’s the difference between medicare and medicaid.
Investopedia. Retrieved May 7, 2012, from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/07/medicare-vs-medicaid.asp#axzz1uDQCktAg

Do you feel like you understand how human reproductive systems work?
Yes – 25 people
No – 0 people
Sort of – 6 people

On a scale of 1 to 5, how well do you feel like you understand these systems?
1 = don’t understand at all – 0 people
2 = understand a bit, but not very much – 2 people
3 = understand the basics, but not the details – 4 people
4 = understand pretty well – 18 people
5 = understand perfectly – 7 people

How best do you think you would have learned about these systems?
diagram – 15 people
verbal explanation – 15 people
written explanation – 9 people
3-D model – 9 people
computer animation – 5 people
art/poetry/story – 8 people
other:
Internet – 3 people
exploration – 1 person
pornography – 1 person
researching how to avoid/get rid of pregnancy – 1 person

Where primarily did you learn about human reproduction?
from parents/family/guardians – 15 people
from friends – 8 people
from media (movies, TV shows, books, music, magazines) – 8 people
from school – 18 people
other:
Internet – 3 people
girlfriend – 1 person
pornography – 1 person
clinics – 1 person
personal research – 1 person
teaching workshops – 1 person

How old were you when you first heard about human reproductive systems?
never “didn’t” talk about it/was always talked about – 1 person
one – 1 person
five – 1 person
five to six – 1 person
six – 1 person
less than or equal to seven – 1 person
seven – 1 person
seven to ten – 1 person
eight – 5 people
eight to nine – 1 person
nine – 4 people
eleven – 1 person
thirteen 1 person

My reason for conducting this survey was simple curiosity. We hear a lot in the news about the importance of having or not having comprehensive sex education in schools. It’s a polarizing topic, and I was curious about where Nova students fit in. I wondered how well, and, more interestingly to me, where people had gotten their reproductive information. I don’t know if these results prove or disprove anything, but it is sort of intriguing to see certain patterns emerging.

The farm class wants YOU to come to our first ever Farm Fest! It will be held on May 29th from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Nova. Anyone who would like to help make this happen can sign up to do any of the following:

• Donate baked goods for our cake walk.
• Perform music, dance, poetry or anything else that you would like to share with our community.
• Run a booth to sell crafts, teach people to make things, or give information about a committee or other group you are a part of. If you sell something, 10% of your proceeds must be given to the farm class to put in a fund to provide food for Nova students in need.
• Bring in canned food for our food drive. This will be put to the same purpose.
• Show up! Spread the word!

To sign up to do any of these things, or ask us any questions you might have, contact Hailey Spencer (halitruewinx@yahoo.com). Chloe Wood-Henrickson (chloe.wood.henrickson@gmail.com), or Nicole Southerland (n.southerland@hotmail.com).

See you there!

I’m often told it’s odd for someone to have gotten into the scene at such a young age, and to have stayed involved. Especially as a girl. I never understood why it wasn’t considered “normal.” I just continued living my weird, punk rock life when people said those things. And while not seeing many other young people did bother me a little bit, I ignored the feeling. But I always did, and still do, hope to see more teens at shows. Oftentimes, the only other high school age kids attending them are friends that I bring with me. Occasionally I’ll see other kids, but rarely are they girls. Young female punks are few and far between here.

When I first started going to shows, I faced a fair amount of discrimination for my age. I was told that I couldn’t be a punk rocker because I was young, therefore didn’t know anything. Despite all the shit I got, I still went to shows. I tried hard to get involved in the scene and prove myself. I wanted it to be known that no matter your age, gender, orientation, or any of that, you could be a damn fine punk rocker. I was sick of seeing holier-than-thou elitists telling others that they weren’t punk rock.

I used to be wary about going to shows. I was afraid of getting made fun of, or getting shit from older punks. I was just a young girl trying to find a place that I could be accepted. It’s really shitty that today’s standards and views on women and children have to affect us in such a way. If people weren’t so judgemental, if people didn’t care how old you were or what you were carrying in your pants, or what you wore or believed in, life would be a hell of a lot easier. We live in a time period where many minority groups are much more accepted than they were 30 years ago, and still we see this judgement every day. Seattle is a pretty open-minded, accepting place, but still, I see this discrimination all the time: in our scene, in schools, out in public. Our lives are short. Why the fuck should we waste them judging others, when we could be doing so many better things?

Great people come in all forms. We should be able to accept and be accepted, tolerate and be tolerated. Sure this all sounds cheesy and generic, but we all deserve a chance. We all deserve to be treated equally. So about a year ago, I started a nonprofit called Punks for Tolerance. I mostly started it because I’ve faced a lot of torment in and out of the scene, and because I was sick of seeing others harassed just for their beliefs and appearances. Originally, I was just trying to set up a benefit show for a club at school. That kind of fell through, but I wanted to keep going with the idea. So at 14, I decided “fuck it, I’ll start a non-profit.” Now, as a 15 year old female, I book benefit shows for various causes, write articles for zines, and am a moderator on a local punk message board. Let that be a big “fuck you” to anyone that thinks kids and girls can’t do anything in the punk scene. Seattle punks need to work on really unifying the scene. No one should be left out because they’re too young, or too old, or too feminine or what have you. We’re all people. We’re all here for the music. We’re all outcasts. We should band together, instead of split off into our little cliques and act like jerks to one another.

Questions (the random capitalization is courtesy of the district, not me):

1) Start up date: When will your “Creative Approach” school begin?

2) Give an Overview of your Creative Approach School Design:

3) Creative Approach characteristics: Please give explicit detail and elements of your design plan.

4) Parent and Community Involvement: How are parents and community members involved in this plan? What partnerships, if any, will you anticipate developing to support your Creative Approach School?

Some pieces of each of these questions are based on information we already have and can therefore be pieced together for answers, while other parts will require a bit more discussion within the community. The themes will fit nicely into answers.

Themes:
- structure and freedom
- coherence
- interactions with community outside Nova → school without walls
↪ permission to work with other schools
- “Open Studio” – open work/learning time throughout the day
- the integration of social justice and sustainability in core content
- community inclusiveness in creating safe space
- food and facilities
- accountability vs. “the joker” (with freedom comes responsibility) vs. responsibility
- individualized education
- more support for skillbuilding
- communication in the community
- leadership
↪ student teachers
- scheduling
↪ time for teachers
↪ shorter due dates
- teacher/coordinator/student relationships
- student voice different from student leadership
- committees and Nova government
- epistemological modesty (the idea that teachers are comfortable/not defensive with regard to information they don’t know)

By the end of the meeting, the group had worked together effectively in creating this list. We are now prepared for our small team of volunteer teacher writers to synthesize the list into answers for the required questions. Next time, we’ll take a look at the teachers’ answers and determine any changes that need to be made. Just another step in the Creative Approach Process.