Where I'm At

I have two small projects left to finish for my first year in the Jazz History and Research program at Rutgers-Newark, and one big exciting project left in my College Teaching class with Lion Gardiner. I'm expected to map out my first undergradute course and develop an entire unit from start to finish, using the research-based techniques that I learned in class. My first course is Rock Music & Culture, which begins in July, and the unit is Hip Hop. I can't wait! I also need to catch up on my internship with Jazz at Lincoln Center; this weekend, I plan to finish my Thelonious Monk timeline.

With all of this writing in my life, I decided to start a new blog. I want to publish my notes for the two Hip Hop classes I taught for my classmate Andrew's Intro to Music course, and of course, I want to share the exciting experience of my first teaching gig as a guest lecturer. I had revelations, difficulties, challenges, and one of the greatest moments of my life. I'll be sure to post them all if you're interested.

I also have an unusual new insight into the music of Rush (what?!), I want to publish a new list of my favorite records, and I'm assembling a Google Map for my project for the Billie Holiday and Lester Young course with Lewis Porter. In the next month, I should be able to post about each of these.

I hope you find all of this interesting to read. I want to keep up with everyone, so please post comments and email me. For those who don't know, Brian just got his first (of many!) dream jobs as an editor at a magazine. Mike and Stacey had their first child, Michael Prescott, last month. Steven and Kiersten had their third child, Kaylee Ann, in January. Sean should be finishing his first year of graduate school any day now, and Wes just opened a new art studio space in Minneapolis. I'm also emailing this to some of my classmates to add new spice for us old fogeys.

If anyone would rather I didn't post information about them on this blog, let me know privately, and I'll take it down, though note that I don't use last names. Thank you for reading and I'll catch up with you soon.