Day 1409: We Are Divided

I won't be the first to admit that the 2016 Election didn't go the way I wanted it to, and I certainly won't be the last, but what hurts more than waking up to a President-Elect that I most certainly didn't want to be anywhere near the Oval Office is seeing the hatred and concern in those around me. 

On one hand, this could go down as one of the worst days in American History - not because we elected Donald Trump as our next President, but because of the violence and terror filling cities across the country. There are stories of those already involved in hate crimes and so many are discussing moments of fear as they face oppression. Now, I'm not usually one for politics, at least not in a public setting, but not even I can keep quiet this time. Our country is facing immense change, whether it be for better or worse. But maybe change is what we need. Maybe things need to be different, but in what way? 

Whenever I'm feeling lost, I sort of settle in with my IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth soundtrack and think back to Epcot, partially because it's where I feel safest and most like myself, and partially because of the ideals that created it. Epcot is about experimenting and looking ahead, all while celebrating our heritage and history. Within its walls, there's a delicate balance between the past, present, and future, and when it all boils down, Epcot is about acceptance. 

It's about recognizing and accepting our differences. It's about celebrating the qualities that make us unique and connecting through what we have in common, and what we don't. Epcot is about community, an element that is expressed best through the countries of World Showcase, filled with individual from all over the world, coming together as one, and it's not even just the cast members. Think of the table sharing tradition at the Biergarten. We can come from all over the country and world and sit down at the same table and share a meal like a family. That's special. That's what it's all about. That's what it should be about. 

And at the end of the day, we return to World Showcase Lagoon to remind ourselves how we got here, and rejoice in the idea that, regardless of what happens, no matter who will step into the Oval Office in January, we go on. Now is the time for us to stand together and take on the future, hand in hand, perhaps more than ever, and retain the idea that we will get through it together. That may be easy for me to say, especially as a privileged member of society, but we've made it this far, through far worse trials than this, and I have faith that we will get through this. We have to believe that. 

All this being said, I want to take a moment to share that if you need to talk, I am here to listen. If you feel unsafe, I am here to reassure and protect you. If you need help, I am here, and I will help you. If you feel oppressed, I am here, and I will fight for you. I will do whatever I can to be there for you, and that goes for everyone everyday, even after the next four years expire. 

Hang tight America. We may be in for some bumpy seas, but I foresee the American Adventure to continue for a long, long time. 

Have a magical day!

Day 326: JFK

Today's blog post is one that I've been planning for a while. I guess really everyone is probably blogging about this today, or will make some mention of it, but I wanted to share how this has an impact on me as well, even though I was born decades after the actual event.

When I was a kid, because I start a whole bunch of stories this way, I remember listening a lot to a particular soundtrack from Disney World, which had different songs from all over the World. Specifically it has Grim Grinning Ghosts (because which soundtrack from the Parks doesn't?), Impressions de France, Tower of Terror, Test Track, Fantasia, and the one I listened to the most: Golden Dream from The American Adventure.

The song is played at the finale of the half hour show and is shown alongside clips from more recent events in our countries history. I know the song by heart, and could probably sing it all to you without the music playing behind me, and along with the music I've found that I also have the quotes from in the middle memorized, and those that know the song or the attraction enough know that there are three quotes.

The first is from JFK, the second from Martin Luther King Jr. and the last from the Moon Landing, meaning that all three are from are a particularly important time period. And you can see how this now connects to today's events.

Previously I've said how Disney has influenced my love of History, specifically through Spaceship Earth and The American Adventure. Goodness, we talked about it last week, but this is one of those times where it needs to be said. I have the utmost respect for our nation's history because of this attraction, and no matter what the circumstances, whenever I hear one of those quotes featured I get quiet, because they are important to all of us, even if we weren't alive when they happened.

That's why today is an important day no matter how old you are. If you are an American you should at least stop and think about the impact this day, 50 years ago, had on our country, and on your life. JFK is one of my personal favorite presidents, and his story one of my favorite portions of history.

A couple weeks ago my college's choir sang a song based and representing the life and assassination of JFK, and I almost blogged about it then, but decided to save everything JFK for today. The entire song you knew what was coming. You knew that eventually the shot would come and JFK would die, but even as it came you weren't ready. The sing shot on the snare still shocked you, and talking to some people in the choir, it sounds like no matter how many times they sang the song it still always made them jump a little bit.

The same can be said for the recent TV movie, Killing Kennedy, which, to be honest, I really only watched because Ginnifer Goodwin was starring in it. But either way, I am glad that I decided to watch and had my mom record it for me on the TV at home, because, just as the snare drum in the music, you knew the shot was coming. As the moments led up the assassination you knew it would be there, and yet it was just as shocking.

And so, I can't help but wonder what it was like for people who actually experienced it. Those standing in Dallas that day and heard the gunshot. The people watching on television around the nation as it was confirmed that the President of the United States had died. The family that was given that shocking phone call. Mrs. Kennedy sitting in the car. The people like my dad, students in school that were released early because of the news. He can still tell the story of where he was when the news was released, because that's something you never ever can forget.

That's why I think I love history so much too. Every piece of our lives is based on previous events. Our lives could be very different if anything had changed, and while it's fun to joke about History once and a while (I adored my HS History teacher for doing just that...making History fun), there are times when we all need to stop and be respectful. Times we need to stop and think about how our lives have been impacted on those who passed before us.

And sometimes we need to ask ourselves not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

 

Frumpstagram today was titled "Sunrise, Sunset," so I quick went through an Album of one of my Disney trips and didn't have to look to far, since the sunset on the way to Disney World (or sunrise...I see that more often than sunset!) is the best one ever! I absolutely LOVE taking pictures out of the plane, even if technically I'm not supposed to have my phone on...I'm a rebel spy though so....

Here's today's Disney History: 1999: Bob Hope appears at Disneyland to inaugurate a new tradition, the first official lighting of the holiday lights at the park. 

Have a magical day!

Day 321: A History Book

My family is currently in the process of cleaning out our basement so we can finish it. Yeah, my house may be big, but without that basement, it really isn't big at all. Anyways, the latest project was finishing my mom's craft room, meaning that when that's finished the total of rooms finished moves up to like 2 and a half (because one of the finished rooms is just a storage room, so does that really count?) While cleaning out a small portion of the room next door to that, the room that will eventually become a theater room, my parents came across box after box of books, one of which had a bunch of old textbooks, which happened to be from my Great Grandma and a few from my Grandma.

I wasn't home at the time, but my mom was telling me about how they had found all these books, so when I was home this weekend I went and looked through them, including the box filled with old textbooks. There were a bunch of random ones in there, but the first one I happened to pull out (probably because it was sitting on top) was a book titled "The United States: A History for the Upper Grades of Catholic Schools."

This book was probably the one that interested me for two reasons. First off, as you know if you've been reading my blog for a long time, history is one of my favorite subjects thanks to, namely, Spaceship Earth and The American Adventure. So the history aspect seems obvious. But second, I'm currently studying racism in the Catholic Church in my Theology class, and one of the things I wrote down in my notes when watching a movie the other day was about history books, so it was really interesting to see how a history book from the 1920's is so different from a history book of today. I mean, thinking about it, World War II hadn't happened, meaning Pearl Harbor did not yet occur, The Great Depression hadn't happened yet, nor had the Cold War or Civil Rights Movement. JFK wasn't even born much less assassinated yet. Yeah, it was pretty interesting.

But how does this relate back to Disney? Well, I already referenced it. Within the first ten pages of the book I felt like I was on Spaceship Earth, and I'm actually watching my recording of it as I write this because, well, I love that attraction. Let's take a closer look at a few of the things mentioned in this textbook so you can see what I mean:

"They [the Egyptians] manufactured a kind of paper from the papyrus plant, which grew in the Nile. From the name of this plant has come our word 'paper.'"

"The Egyptians and the Babylonians had thus begun the development of many of the industries and sciences which form the basis of our civilization to-day. Between these two peoples on the extreme eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea lived another people, the Phoenicians...Nothing they carried with them was of so great importance as their alphabet, which they may have adopted from the natives of the island of Crete. In this alphabet signs represented sound and replaced the picture writing of the Egyptians and of the Babylonians. These signs are the basis of our modern alphabet."

Those were the big two, but the book goes on to describe the Greeks and the Romans. After that the book gets more indepth the closer to the year it was printed it becomes. I really think it's interesting because those are things I did NOT learn in my own classes in school. Those are all things that I learned from DISNEY.

Funny how Spaceship Earth can be a History textbook.

Frumpstagram for today called for an "action shot," and honestly I can't think of an action shot better than one from Indiana Jones. It's seriously one of my absolute favorite shows at Disney World, and I try to see it as often as I can. Hopefully when I go with my band I can get a group of people together to go see it and we can all meet Indiana Jones!!!






Here's today's Disney History: 2007: New versions of two classic board games are revealed at Once Upon a Toy in the Downtown Marketplace in Florida. Disney Theme Park Edition Monopoly and Disney Theme Park Tower of Terror Clue both premiere at the special event with guests and Game Artists, Quhyn Kimball and Cody Reynolds from the Disney Design Group.

Have a magical day!

Day 239: Reading

Here in Wisconsin it's insanely warm. Like seriously hot. Our dorms don't have AC either, meaning that it's basically like walking into a sauna that you also sleep in. Luckily the rest of the building on campus DO have AC, so I just end up spending a lot of time in those. This morning though, after my three classes and eating lunch with a couple of my friends, I went to the library to study with my best friend. Of course, we were just studying for our own classes, but we were there, at the same time, in the AMAZING basement (that I'll have to show you sometime), and I was reading for my Survey of American Lit course.

Basically my course studies American Literature from the 1600's until the end of the Civil War. So I sat down this afternoon in the library to read our homework, the introduction to the course. Now, honestly a large portion of me is somewhat confused about what this introduction has to do with the rest of the course, but there are several things that really stood out to me as "DISNEY!"

I was annotating the entire time, so I was able to kind of mark them all down too! =)

First, this passage: "A written alphabet had been used by Europeans to preserve and communicate information for many centuries, and Gutenberg's invention of movable type in the mid-1400's had shown the way to a mechanical means of "writing"; by 1492, Europe was on its way to becoming a print culture" (The Norton Anthology: American Literature Volume A).

Any ideas on how I related that one to Disney? I'll give you a clue: Epcot. Get it now? If you guessed Spaceship Earth, you'd be right! There's actually two references in that quote, but the most obvious is Gutenberg's Movable Type Printing Press, actually invented in 1450. Yes, the second I read that every time I hear the line in my head "In 1450 Gutenberg invents the movable type printing press..." and so on and so forth.

Next, a few pages later, I was annotating and came across the section on the Pilgrims and Puritans. I don't really have a direct quote for this one, but as I read it, I really thought of the American Adventure. I mean, they talked about the colonists surviving the first winter in the New World, and if you recall, in the American Adventure, there is a portion of the song about the Pilgrims talking about that same cold winter.

Finally, and this one will probably come up more in the future, but my next assignment is the autobiography of Frederick Douglas...which can also be related to the American Adventure. Of course, this one is obvious as well, as Frederick Douglas himself makes an appearance in each and every show. I'm really looking forward to reading his work too, so I can finally relate the words in the attraction specifically to the man himself.

And so, that was my Disney relations for the day, or at least what I can tell you. There is another part of my day that included Disney, quite obviously, but I'll wait to tell you about that one later. All I can tell you is that it has to do with Disney and Wind Ensemble, and that I'm REALLY excited about it!

Here's today's Disney History: 1964: Disney's live-action and animated film Mary Poppins has a lavish world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The comedy-musical stars Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. Some of Hollywood's biggest stars like Angie Dickinson, George Hamilton, Angela Lansbury, Carl Reiner and Debbie Reynolds are in attendance. After the screening and a 5-minute standing ovation the audience moves on to an elegant party hosted by the Technicolor Corporation.

Have a magical day!