Many musicians remember the first moment in their life when they are completely absorbed in music. When the sounds and vibrations lift their spirits and take them somewhere only music can take them. This place in time serves as the basis of their musical career.I have a similar moment, one that hopefully, I'll never forget.

Last summer I asked my dad to buy tickets to a Mainly Mozart concert, a few weeks later the tickets came in the mail. He ordered tickets for the wrong concert. I was furious, I was so excited to see this string quartet and the tickets very clearly read "Anthony McGill Solo Recital". Anthony McGill is NOT a string quartet. I decided since my dad paid good money for these tickets, I best look him up and see who, exactly, is this Anthony McGill guy.

When I went to my dear friend Google for answers, I was very pleased to see he was a clarinetist. I decided that the concert wouldn't be nearly as bad as I initially thought.

Weeks went by and it was finally the day of the concert. That day, my dad drove me to a high school in southeast San Diego; I was skeptical and kept asking him if it was the right place, it doesn't seem logical for a professional clarinetist to be playing at a high school in a low-income neighborhood.

We got into the theater and took our seats, the rest is all magic. Anthony walked onstage and immediately starts playing the Mozart Concerto, my jaw dropped by the utmost perfection radiating from this angelical man. This is the moment when I fell in love; not with the man in the tuxedo standing onstage, not with the piece flowing out of his Leblanc, but with music, plain and simple. This instance became the foundation of my inspirations, I knew for certain that from that moment and on, my life was to be musically-centric.

Love is a tricky thing, we hear so much about it, all these fantasies. As we get older, we're told these stories are just myth, that love isn't as simple as we grew up believing it is. But what we need to know is that the magic really does exist, just not in ways we're expecting. Driving into that urban high school parking lot, I had no idea that I would be falling in love that night, but sure enough I did and it was a definite thing. I guess this love doesn't result in prom date, but it makes me happy and that's what really matters.

American as Apple Pie (Grade Please)

I'd like you all to meet Ami Gibbs, my great-great-great-grandfather. He was born on American soil, as were his kids, and their kids...and as was I. Ami worked hard in this country just like the rest of my ancestors, just so their descendants could live a happy life in "The Land of the Free". But I never really appreciated all the work my family has done for me, so although part of this blog post is obviously for my grade in English class, it's also dedicated to all of my family who have worked so hard for me to be happy

When people ask me about my heritage, I refuse to tell them I'm American. I usually recite a giant list "well, I'm German, and English, and Swedish, and French..." and the listeners usually get bored and annoyed.

Also, I always brag about how my parents grew up in Belgium, and although they truly did, they were born in AMERICA;they went to AMERICAN schools, shopped at AMERICAN stores and had AMERICAN friends. I guess don't want to be seen as "trailer trash" from America, I'd rather be seen as the one of the romanticized Europeans.

In relatively recent history, being American was a good thing, it meant living in a country where you were free to your own religion, sexuality, opinions etc. But things change, and that includes global relations. Soon enough other people's views on America have become more negative. People assuming that we eat nothing but fast food, sit on our couches and watch football. I don't want to be associated with that stereotype (I try to say this without coming off as being racist towards Europeans, which would defeat the purpose of this assignment).

My opinion on my own culture has been negatively impacted by these foreign views. With this attitude, I've been marginalizing myself, and valorizing Europeans by pretending to be associated with them. Sure my family is from Europe...it's just that they haven't been from there in nearly 200 years. Instead, I should be proud of my American culture and the diversity of my lineage.