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The transition of fall to winter is part of every Michigander's life and those who cannot embrace the coming deep-freeze will have no choice but to wallow in misery for the next five months or so. This is the mentality that has always caused me to overly welcome the inevitable winter. This wasn't much of a stretch for me when I was growing up because I have always been one of the most fair skinned people I know and "fun-in-the-sun" usually meant: "burn & sweat-in-the-heat". This last year, however, I've had several occasions where sitting alone reading Orson Scott Card , under the sun, out in a natural setting was an incredible sensation. Not that I couldn't appreciate nature prior to this last fall but it wasn't until recently that I felt that it was becoming a part of who I was, becoming something that was no longer arbitrary but necessary. This feeling drove me to find secluded spots that no one knew about where I could be alone for miles. One place in particular is located within a park that I like to frequent. It's off the path, quite a ways, and you have to push through an intertwined network of vine-like branches only to find an inordinate level of thorn-bearing underbrush. When I hit this barrier for the first time I remember thinking: "it's ok forest, I'll bear the slashes of your guardians, I'll continue, and I trust that once I have pressed deeply enough to gain your respect, you will show me a sanctuary. You will reveal to me the place that is your core, your very heart." After several minutes of feeling as though the thorns would go on for miles I reached a clearing. This was it, I had trusted the wild and it had granted me sanctuary. I could have turned back at any point. Even when I was a foot outside the clearing I could not see into it. I could not see it coming. If I had turned back I would never have found that the very place I was looking for not only existed, but was right in front of me. I felt like I had just passed a test, just been told a secret. The clearing was covered with knee-high grasses surrounded by a fortress of large trees and a mesh of underbrush. There was a fallen tree in the middle of the clearing and when the wind blew across the grass I felt like I was standing in a shallow lake, and the fallen tree was as driftwood. The whole seen really gave me pause. I sat on one of the larger branches on the fallen tree and just stared for a moment, letting my eyes unfocus, and getting that feeling of pristine stillness that I had so longed for. It was only after a few moments of delight that the piercing realization struck me that winter was coming. Why must snow cover everything I could see so soon after I had discovered this place. how soon would the flowing grass be frozen solid. how long until this place revealed nothing to me but cold and death. For the first time in my life I truly dreaded the seasonal transition.
Posts: 484 | Registered: Jan 2005
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For those who don't know, we made him post this on this side. Welcome, Ramdac, now that you are in the state of mind to enjoy our company, I'm sure you'll be a wonderful addition to the 'rack.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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And I LOVE the transition from Fall to Winter in MI. Winter has always been and will always be my favorite season. I love that crisp bite of cold in the air, i love the sound of the snow crunching beneath my boots, I love the cool days that come at the end when its heading into the spring when the sun beats down but the air is still cold enough to balance out. Michigan in the winter rocks =)
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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oo Linden, good marching band at the high school there.
Sorry, marching band geeks tend to identify cities by their marching bands. And I don't even think Utica marched competitively. Where you guys at now?
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Nice try, Utica won high marks and has marched in 3 bowl games in the last 15 years...perhaps more than that. I have been out of the loop....I know that they only have 3 grades at that school too, which makes their 120 member band even more amazing, considering that every other school in the area has 4 grades to draw from.
They have also marched in 3 Thanksgiving Day halftime shows in the Silverdome, on national TV, for the Lions.
They were also runners up for 3 straight years for the Rose Bowl Parade....and the Rose Bowl only accepts 3 bands nation wide (unless they were in the very first parade, then they are automatically granted permission to march regardless of size) each year.
Orange Bowl...1988 Fiesta Bowl....1999
Peach Bowl....last year.
I guess you could say they march pretty damn good.
We never got less than Division I in all the time I went there, and I know that is what they got this year as well.
I was on national (not state, not local) TV 12 times in 3 years with that band.
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Did they compete in the BOA or MCBA? I went to Dondero High School, we were Flight III in MCBA, which is based on school population size. Honestly I don't know all the different flight bands other than the big names like Reethes Puffer, Mona Shores and Durand.
If it was BOA then congrats, that's really tough competition.
Edit: What instrument do you play? (you were in the band right?)
I play flute, but I also played Trumpet, Baritone, French Horn, Tuba, Clarinet, Saxaphone, and aux percussion (mainly Timps)...
We had a top notch band program, but there were a few years there, right after I graduated, where the overal school population dropped drastically, and so did the number of band memers. I heard about it...at one pont they were below 75 members, which was a first in 30 years. we had a beginning band/music theory class, which I took in 12th grade. That is where I learned all the brass, and clarinet/sax/percussion.
Turn out I could play any of the varsity band stuff on brass within weeks of learning the insturment, once I got the hang of Baritone. I was a natural brass player, even though I was first chair flute. Go figure.
Now they are back over 100, which is still short of the 200+ that went to the Orange Bowl when I was in....I think with all included, flag corps and pom poms (we only had those for the one trip, though) we had 228.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Also, while our field show was really good (it had to be for us to get the Lion's gig on Thanksgiving, with all the great schools around there), we were even better at parades, and were one of the best at concert performances.
I like MI, but I lived in the southern part near Detroit, so the weather is pretty much the same as where I am now. I know up by our cottage they get a ton more snow every winter though but I don't remember where in MI you are.
I didn't remember you being in MI at all, to be honest.
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odd similarities, I'm 23 and out of college but when I went to Farmington High School I was in the Drumline for 4 years, Snare baby.
Posts: 484 | Registered: Jan 2005
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our band was always too small for BOA, never had a good enough sound. But we almost always got I's at MSBOA Festival, and at State level MSBOA. Our school was always better at indoor concerts that outdoor, a third of the school was in band, orchestra or choir.
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That pool is one of the nicest high school pools in the area. Not so much the water-filled thing itself as the whole natatorium. I always enjoyed competing there.
Posts: 3801 | Registered: Jan 2000
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I'm only smart until you realize that I'm moving to MN ... out of the frying pan and into the fire ... or is that out of the fridge and into the freezer?
I'm in a suburb next to Detroit. Michelle
Posts: 152 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I'm only smart until you realize that I'm moving to MN ... out of the frying pan and into the fire ... or is that out of the fridge and into the freezer?
I'm in a suburb next to Detroit. Michelle
Posts: 152 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I lived in Detroit up until I was 13, moved to Warren until early my earlies 20s, had a brief stint in Oak Park and Berkley. Then back to Warren. I no longer live in Warren but live about 7 miles away. LOL, that's all I'm saying.
I have family and deep roots in Northern MN, and I hope to be living there soon. Michelle
Posts: 152 | Registered: Jul 2004
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-Ramdac99, How have you found the winter so far??? It is febuary after all. Sorry to be off topic...
Posts: 264 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Berkley is just a 5 minute drive from here. I didn't think anyone on Hatrack really lived close by.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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