(From the Janesville Messenger, 3-1-09)
“Jim Lyke is writing his Messenger column.”
- Facebook entry, February 23, 2009, 9:30 pm
Thanks to the latest craze on the Wonderful World Wide Web, anyone who is a member of the web site Facebook now knows exactly what I was doing (or trying to do) at that particular moment in time. And why would I want to inform the world of that? Um...good question.
I became aware of Facebook mainly because my high school-aged daughter spends approximately 27 hours a day on the site. And if you had told me as recently as two months ago that I would be wasting about half of my own waking hours on it, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Facebook is a social-networking website that was launched five years ago by a student at Harvard University. In that relatively short period of time, it has grown into an Internet juggernaut with over 175 million users worldwide.
Initially, the site was only for Harvard students, and then it expanded to include other colleges, and eventually, high schoolers. Now, however, anyone 13 or older with a valid e-mail address can join.
Just recently, I was surprised when several otherwise normal adults started telling me how much they enjoyed Facebook and encouraged me to join. I finally decided to see what all of the fuss was about.
The first order of business on Facebook is to create a profile page, which consists of the usual personal information - where you work, what you like, relationship status, etc. Everyone’s Facebook page has a profile picture, which becomes your personal identifier. Since the only halfway decent photo I have of myself sits at the top of this column – and it’s getting old – I chose a picture of John Belushi smeared with mustard in the “Animal House” toga party scene. It’s a reasonable facsimile of my appearance circa 1980. Beyond your profile, you can post other photos and videos as well.
Once that’s done, the next thing you have to do is find “friends.” You’re nothing on Facebook without friends. You can search for people you know and send them “friend requests.” The site helps you find potential “friends” by suggesting people who were in your high school class, work for your company, or are friends with your friends. Once someone confirms you as a friend, you can write messages to each other, chat online, send them virtual gifts, or just choose to “poke” them. More on that later.
When you log on to Facebook, you are asked, “What are you doing right now?” You fill in the blank, which alerts all of your friends about your status update, and they can then make comments in response. So on February 23, all of my friends knew I was starting to write this column, to which Forward Janesville’s Dan Cunningham responded, “Me, too!” The best status update I have seen so far is the simple but truthful, “Laura is updating her Facebook status.”
This site contains an incredible amount of ways to waste time. Besides messaging your friends, there are games, quizzes, surveys, fan clubs, etc. And whatever you do on the site is posted for all of your friends to see. Personally, I wouldn’t want the world to know that I took an actual Facebook quiz called “How Good Are You In Bed?” Especially since everyone would see the score.
I still haven’t figured out the “poke” thing yet, either. You poke someone. They poke you. The site then tells you that you’ve been poked. You are then offered a virtual cigarette. OK, I made that last part up. But as if that isn’t enough, I’ll sometimes get a message that “Jane Doe Has Been Super Pokin’!” Whatever that means, it just doesn’t sound right.
What’s been most interesting is reconnecting with people I hadn’t seen or heard from in a while. One of my first friend requests was from a high school classmate I hadn’t seen since graduation day. Even so, I honestly thought that I would get bored with Facebook after a week. But it’s strangely addicting.
I think I’ve figured out one reason Facebook is so popular: it’s the ultimate voyeurism. I know what you’re doing every day! I know who all your friends are! I know who’s been poking you! Instead of Facebook, it should be called Openbook, because that’s what your life becomes.
Maybe it’s coincidence, but since I’ve become a Facebook user, it doesn’t seem like my kids are on the site as much as they used to be. Will Facebook be another thing that parents ruin for their kids? That the teens flee from as soon as the adults embrace it?
Hmm...I’ll have to post that thought on my page.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Two For The Show (Choir)
(From the Janesville Messenger, 2-15-09)
January means one thing in the households of many high schoolers.
It’s Show Choir Season.
To the students, it means most Saturdays are spent on the bus to a Midwest high school to perform a show that has been carefully, meticulously choreographed and rehearsed. To the parents, it means most Saturdays are spent driving to said high schools to watch the performance.
I am always amazed when I see the talent the high schoolers demonstrate in these shows. It’s a lot of hard work; I know because I’ve been in musical theater and what these kids do is much more difficult than anything I’ve personally witnessed. The show is about 20 minutes of choral singing, choreographed dance movements, emotive facial expressions and rapid costume changes. I don’t know how these young people do it; when I was that age, I was so dorky and uncoordinated I could barely walk without my oversized feet tripping me up.
Show choir is a relatively recent phenomenon. When I was at Milton High School in the late 1970’s, our first show choir (then called “swing choir”) was formed under the direction of music teacher Bill Schrank. Over 30 years later, Mr. Schrank is still at MHS directing the show choir, and my daughter Corinne now plays trombone in the show choir band.
Every year, I’m amazed at what old hard rock or heavy metal songs make their way into the show choir world. For example, Van Halen’s “Panama” is part of the Janesville Craig Spotlighters show this year. Imagine Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth in 1984, laying this track down in a haze-filled studio and thinking to themselves, “I hope someday this is sung by a show choir.” Though if Van Halen songs are ripe for show choirs now, I’m still guessing that “Hot For Teacher” won’t make the cut.
One of the shows I caught recently was at Monona Grove High School. I only watched one performance other than Milton’s, and while the high school from western Wisconsin that I witnessed had extremely talented kids, its program selections left something to be desired. Actually, from an unintentional humor standpoint, I hit the jackpot. In a classic case of “What Were They Thinking???,” this particular high school pulled off the Show Choir Trifecta of Wretchedness.
1) Their opening song was "MacArthur Park.” As you may know, “MacArthur Park” is often cited as the worst song of the last 50 years, particularly in its overdramatic 1968 Richard Harris version. The lyrical metaphor that gets everyone laughing is the immortal, “Someone left the cake out in the rain/And I don’t think that I can take it/’Cause it took so long to bake it/And I’ll never have that recipe agaaaaaaain!” It was amazingly surreal to see these kids dramatically singing this song with serious looks on their faces. Frankly, teaching this song to teenagers should be considered felony child abuse.
2) They did a stripper number. Well, maybe not a stripper number per se, but a routine where all the guys are ogling a female dancer using suggestive moves that were...not unlike those of a stripper. In fact, the audience member next to me said, "All she needs is a pole.” I felt like I was watching the talent show competition from "Little Miss Sunshine," except with a postpubescent girl.
3) The guy's costumes for the final numbers were hip-hop style - complete with baseball caps cocked to the side and flashing those funky hand motions first popularized by Run-DMC and imitated by every rapper since. Keep in mind that this was a predominantly white teenage show choir from western Wisconsin. If you want to get urban teenagers to change their style of dress, show them this routine. They will run screaming from the auditorium and drive to the nearest K-Mart for a makeover, only to emerge from the store looking like Urkel from “Family Matters.”
Fortunately, shows like that are the exception, not the rule. Although I’m hardly unbiased, I have to say that I think both Milton’s and Craig’s programs are exceptionally strong this year. If you enjoy watching talented young people perform, you would enjoy their shows.
Meanwhile, I’ll continue to work on the walking thing.
January means one thing in the households of many high schoolers.
It’s Show Choir Season.
To the students, it means most Saturdays are spent on the bus to a Midwest high school to perform a show that has been carefully, meticulously choreographed and rehearsed. To the parents, it means most Saturdays are spent driving to said high schools to watch the performance.
I am always amazed when I see the talent the high schoolers demonstrate in these shows. It’s a lot of hard work; I know because I’ve been in musical theater and what these kids do is much more difficult than anything I’ve personally witnessed. The show is about 20 minutes of choral singing, choreographed dance movements, emotive facial expressions and rapid costume changes. I don’t know how these young people do it; when I was that age, I was so dorky and uncoordinated I could barely walk without my oversized feet tripping me up.
Show choir is a relatively recent phenomenon. When I was at Milton High School in the late 1970’s, our first show choir (then called “swing choir”) was formed under the direction of music teacher Bill Schrank. Over 30 years later, Mr. Schrank is still at MHS directing the show choir, and my daughter Corinne now plays trombone in the show choir band.
Every year, I’m amazed at what old hard rock or heavy metal songs make their way into the show choir world. For example, Van Halen’s “Panama” is part of the Janesville Craig Spotlighters show this year. Imagine Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth in 1984, laying this track down in a haze-filled studio and thinking to themselves, “I hope someday this is sung by a show choir.” Though if Van Halen songs are ripe for show choirs now, I’m still guessing that “Hot For Teacher” won’t make the cut.
One of the shows I caught recently was at Monona Grove High School. I only watched one performance other than Milton’s, and while the high school from western Wisconsin that I witnessed had extremely talented kids, its program selections left something to be desired. Actually, from an unintentional humor standpoint, I hit the jackpot. In a classic case of “What Were They Thinking???,” this particular high school pulled off the Show Choir Trifecta of Wretchedness.
1) Their opening song was "MacArthur Park.” As you may know, “MacArthur Park” is often cited as the worst song of the last 50 years, particularly in its overdramatic 1968 Richard Harris version. The lyrical metaphor that gets everyone laughing is the immortal, “Someone left the cake out in the rain/And I don’t think that I can take it/’Cause it took so long to bake it/And I’ll never have that recipe agaaaaaaain!” It was amazingly surreal to see these kids dramatically singing this song with serious looks on their faces. Frankly, teaching this song to teenagers should be considered felony child abuse.
2) They did a stripper number. Well, maybe not a stripper number per se, but a routine where all the guys are ogling a female dancer using suggestive moves that were...not unlike those of a stripper. In fact, the audience member next to me said, "All she needs is a pole.” I felt like I was watching the talent show competition from "Little Miss Sunshine," except with a postpubescent girl.
3) The guy's costumes for the final numbers were hip-hop style - complete with baseball caps cocked to the side and flashing those funky hand motions first popularized by Run-DMC and imitated by every rapper since. Keep in mind that this was a predominantly white teenage show choir from western Wisconsin. If you want to get urban teenagers to change their style of dress, show them this routine. They will run screaming from the auditorium and drive to the nearest K-Mart for a makeover, only to emerge from the store looking like Urkel from “Family Matters.”
Fortunately, shows like that are the exception, not the rule. Although I’m hardly unbiased, I have to say that I think both Milton’s and Craig’s programs are exceptionally strong this year. If you enjoy watching talented young people perform, you would enjoy their shows.
Meanwhile, I’ll continue to work on the walking thing.
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