"Perilla"
A wonderful meeting today! Nothing could beat sitting under the warm sun and being part of the audience as the kids walked us thru the history of Korea. They are beginning to look at the audience a little more! Also, they made a Korean side dish with perilla leaves. Simply delish!
Thank you to the wonderful parents who have been coming and supporting their kids. You are awesome!

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost, 1874 - 1963

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Oprah Winfrey gave a commencement speech:
2008 - Stanford Speech/youtube (23:52), rated PG

"To grow more into ourselves, always moving to the next level of understanding, the next level of compassion and growth."

Neil Gaiman gave a commencement speech:
2012 - University of the Arts/youtube (19:54), rated G

"...when things get tough this is what you should do, make good art.."

The Emperor's New Clothes (from pitt.edu)
by Hans Christian Andersen
Many years ago there lived an emperor who loved beautiful new clothes so much that he spent all his money on being finely dressed. His only interest was in going to the theater or in riding about in his carriage where he could show off his new clothes. He had a different costume for every hour of the day. Indeed, where it was said of other kings that they were at court, it could only be said of him that he was in his dressing room!
Read rest of the story...

The following is an excerpt from "A Guide to Voice Projection" by Kate Peters.
"The key components of a powerful sound are: personality, passion, and strong vocal physique. The first two components are achieved by being yourself and by being clear about your intention. The third, through awareness and practice."

Check on the third one, that's what we're trying to do here :)

"Shuttlecock"
We had a fun meeting today. We learned a little bit about China and each child stood up and presented. The kids created a word game from a famous author, created their own shuttlecock and tasted the western version of orange chicken. Yum!