tabel of content

Table of Contents

Declaration…………………………………………………………….………pg. 1
Excerpts…………………………………………………………………......pg. 2-4
Critiques…………………………………………………………….……....pg. 5-7
Pictures………………………………………………………………….….…pg. 8
Excerpts…………………………………………………………….…………pg. 9
Narratives……………………………………………………………...…pg. 10-15
Excerpts…………………………………………………………………..pg. 16-18
Narrative……………………………………………………………………..pg. 19
Pictures………………………………………………………………..……..pg. 20
Excerpt……………………………………………………………………….pg. 21
Existing Critiques…………………………………………………...……pg. 22-23
Critique………………………………………………………………..….pg. 24-25
Excerpt…………………………………………………………...……….pg. 26-27
Links……………………………………………………………………….....pg. 28
Community Service…………………………………………………………..pg. 29
Student Art…………………………………………………………………....pg. 30

Narrative 5

Narrative 5



It was one of those lazy, hot summer days. Sarah was sitting on the red sofa in her living room, reading her new book. All of a sudden she heard screams coming out of the nearby kitchen. “I told you not to buy those books”, yelled a male voice.“You can’t tell me what to do. Sarah just wanted a few new books”, responded a woman angrily.“Why do you always have to go behind me back? You’re my wife you’re supposed to treat me with respect. I’m the man in the house so you aren’t allowed to buy things without my god damn permission!”“Stop trying to control me you selfish bastard. I’m your wife not your slave”“You love me so you have to serve me! I’m the king in this house.”“I don’t even know why the hell I married your lazy ass. All you do is sit at home and drink you’re beer and then you try to tell me what to do and what not to” Rapidly, Sarah jumped up and angrily threw her book on the ground. She was sick of the fighting. Everyday she had to listen to her parents yelling about the stupidest things. All she could do to escape was go outside, play her keyboard as loud as possible, and get lost in her music.

Critique 3

Girl by the Piano is an oil painting by Nina Mikhailenko. She was born and raised in Russia, where she studied piano, ballet, and fine art. She came to the United States in 1974.
The focal point of this painting is the girl standing next to the piano, holding sheets of paper in her hand. The colors used in this are mainly warm. Emphasis is put on the girl by the contrast between her and the white curtains. There are many subtle details like the flowers on the carpet underneath the piano. The picture is divided into darker and lighter, where the darker areas are more subtle and the lighter ones noticed at first glance. Some great detail is used with the piano. For example, there is a reflection of a fireplace in the wood of the instrument. There are always new things to discover that are not noticeable at first glance. For instance, you can see water through the window which suggests that the house is located somewhere near a lake or the ocean.
Many suggestions can be made about this painting. It seems as if the girl is about to sing off of the sheet she is holding in her hand. The room she is in and the clothes she is wearing suggest that she is from a rather rich family. The fact that she is near a large body of water does too.

List of Excerpts

List of Excerpts

Music and Lyrics (movie), 2007, Marc Lawrence
August Rush (movie), 2007, Kirsten Sheridan
The Suffering by Coheed and Cambria (lyrics)
The Expression of Emotion in Music (article), the British Journal of Aesthetics, Peter Mew
Deeper than Reason (book), Jenefer Robinson, Oxford
Emotion and Meaning in Music (book), Leonard B. Meyer,
Someday by Nickelback (lyrics)
Hero/Heroine by Boys Like Girls (lyrics)
New American Classic by Taking Back Sunday (lyrics)
Sweeny Todd (movie), 2007, Tim Burton
There’s a Class For This by Cute Is What We Aim For (lyrics)
Intensity in Ten Cities by Chiodos (lyrics)
Smother Me by The Used (lyrics)
I Don’t Love You by My Chemical Romance (lyrics)
Swing Life Away by Rise Against (lyrics)

Jasey Rae by All Time Low

I said, "I still hear the rain."These images have filled my headNow keep my fingers from making mistakesTell my voice what it takes to speak up, speak upand keep my conscious clean when I wakeDon't make this easyI want you to mean it, Jasey(Say you mean it)You're dressed to killI'm calling you in(Don't waste your time on me)Now there's an aching in my back,A sudden pain that says I lackthe common sense and confidenceto bring her hands to promisesthat I'm making time for desperate conversation.Holding my knife could be better than this in the end.(Just say when)Don't make this easyI want you to mean it, Jasey(Say you mean it)You're dressed to killI'm calling you in(Don't waste your time on me)I've never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.I've never made a bet, but we gamble with desire.I've never lit a match with intent to start a fire,but recently the flames are getting out of control.Calling your name, kill me with words.Forget about me, it's what I deserve.I was your chance out of your town,but I took the car and left you to......wait outside.I hope the air will start to remind youto get me out of this place.I'll remember your faceand my words are as bigas the beating in my chest.

Existing Critique1

THE SINGER OF AMON, ZEDKHONSUAUFANKH, PLAYS THE HARP BEFORE THE GOD HARMAKHIS NEW KINGDOM



The singer, on his knees before the seated figure of the god, plays a harp decorated with a royal head. The man’s face is depicted in the expressionistic manner of the Amarna period, both in the interplay of curve and plain and in the realistic feature of the open mouth holding its note for all eternity. The colors are elementary-a white background, with areas of red-orange, dark green and yellow-but the brushwork is fluent and easy, so that the outlines and the bodies they define blend into a whole.

Narrative 4

I hate when my mom takes me to the city to buy new clothes. I’d rather stay home and play on the swings and in my big sandbox. But my mom wouldn’t listen. She said I need new clothes for when we go to auntie’s house over vacation. I don’t get why I can’t just wear what I’m wearing now. It seems perfectly fine to me.
I like the big houses here. They go up into the sky, almost touching the clouds. The city is so much different from my house. There are so many people. I don’t think I’ve seen this many cars either. Over there are people running to catch a bus. And right there are birds playing.
They are pretty and seem so happy. They are lucky. Their mommy lets them play and doesn’t take them clothes shopping. I’m surprised these birds aren’t scared. The city certainly scares me. So big and loud. What’s that noise? It makes me want to dance and spin around! Maybe I should follow it. Oh, I’ve never seen anything like that. There is a man with something big in his hands. It has piano keys on one side but it looks all wrinkly. The noise is coming out of it. It goes like this: “Hmm Hm Hmm Hm Hm Hm Hmm” Over and over again.
Hmm Hm Hmm Hm Hm Hm Hmm
Hmm Hm Hmm Hm Hm Hm Hmm
I wanna get closer. I like this. Maybe the city isn’t so bad after all.

The little girl runs up to the street musician, spreads her arms, and happily dances around to the rhythm of the music.

The Unnamed Feeling - Metallica

Been here before

Been here before couldn't say I liked it

Do I start writing all this down?

Just let me plug you into my world

Can't you help me be uncrazy?

Name this for me, heat the cold air

Take the chill off of my life

And if I could I'd turn my eyes

To look inside to see what's comin'

It comes alive

And I die a little more

It comes alive

Each momnent here I die a little more

Then the unnamed feeling

It comes alive

Then the unnamed feeling

Takes me away

I'm frantic in your soothing arms

I can not sleep in this down filled world

I've found safety in this loneliness

But I cannot stand it anymore

Cross my heart and hope not to die

Swallow evil, ride the sky

Lose myself in a crowded room

You fool, you fool, it will be here soon

It comes alive

And I die a little more

It comes alive

Each moment here I die a little more

Then the unnamed feeling

It comes alive

Then the unnamed feeling

Treats me this way

And I wait for this train

Toes over the line

And then the unnamed feeling

Takes me away

Get the fuck out of here

I just wanna get the fuck away from me

I rage, I glaze, I hurt, I hate

It hate it all, why? Why? Why me?

I cannot sleep wth a head like thisI wanna cry, I wanna scream

I rage, I glaze, I hurt, I hate

I wanna hate it all away

Holiday - Green Day

Say, hey!
Hear the sound of the falling rain
Coming down like an Armageddon flame (Hey!)
The shame
The ones who died without a name
Hear the dogs howling out of key
To a hymn called "Faith and Misery" (Hey!)
And bleed, the company lost the war todayI beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday
Hear the drum pounding out of time
Another protester has crossed the line (Hey!)
To find, the money's on the other side
Can I get another Amen? (Amen!)
There's a flag wrapped around a score of men (Hey!)
A gag, a plastic bag on a monument
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday(Hey!)(Say, hey!)(3,4)
"The representative from California has the floor"
Sieg Heil to the president Gasman
Bombs away is your punishment
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government
Bang bang goes the broken glass and
Kill all the fags that don't agree
Trials by fire, setting fire
Is not a way that's meant for me
Just cause, just cause, because we're outlaws yeah!
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
This is our lives on holiday

Beauty In The Breakdown - The Scene Aesthetic

Come on, take a step towards me

So you can figure me out

I've been hoping and praying for a single way

To show you what I'm all about

And I know, and I know this is the only way of pleasing the crowds

But when this is over and done with and we walk away

There should be no doubts

So let's get a little closer now

Let's get a little closer now

You say, you say that we're all tied up

And wrapped around in useless, states of mind

But at the same time we're still young

We have the time to realize that we were wrong

Come on love run with me

Get the hell out of this town

So we can get a better feel for each other

I'll take you, back to, when you

Remembered how you used to

Just live your life a little for me

Take the time to let it go

Step away and watch me grow

So let's get a little closer now

Let's get a little closer now

You say, you say that we're all tied up

And wrapped around in useless, states of mind

But at the same time we're still young

We have the time to realize that we were wrong

You can stay if you want to

And I write to you and tell you how you've always been so special to me

You can stay if you want to, and I'll try

You can stay if you want to

And I write to you and tell you how you've always been so special to me

You can stay if you want to, and I'll try

To keep you close to me (x3)

You say, you say that we're all tied up

And wrapped around in useless, states of mind

But at the same time we're still young

We have the time to realize that we were wrong

Thunder - Boys Like Girls

Today is a winding road that's taking me to places that I didn't want to go
Whoa (whoa, whoa, whoa)
Today in the blink of an eye
I'm holding on to something and I do not know why
I tried
I tried to read between the lines
I tried to look in your eyes
I want a simple explanation
For what I'm feeling inside
I gotta find a way out
Maybe there's a way out
Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer
Do you know you're unlike any other?
You'll always be my thunder, and I said
Your eyes are the brightest of all the colors
I don't wanna ever love another
You'll always be my thunder
So bring on the rain
And bring on the thunder
Today is a winding road
Tell me where to start and tell me something I don't know
Whoa (whoa, whoa, whoa)
Today I'm on my own
I can't move a muscle and I can't pick up the phone
I don't know (I don't know, I don't know, I don't know)
And now I'm itching for the tall grass
And longing for the breeze
I need to step outside
Just to see if I can breathe
I gotta find a way out
Maybe theres a way out
Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer
Do you know you're unlike any other?
You'll always be my thunder, and I said
Your eyes are the brightest of all the colors
I don't wanna ever love another
You'll always be my thunder
So bring on the rain
Yeah I'm walking on a tightrope
I'm wrapped up in vines
I think we'll make it out
But you just gotta give me time
Strike me down with lightning
Let me feel you in my veins
I wanna let you know how much I feel your pain
Today is a winding road that's taking me to places that I didn't want to go
Whoa
Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer
Do you know you're unlike any other?
You'll always be my thunder, and I said
Your eyes are the brightest of all the colors
I don't wanna ever love another
You'll always be my thunder
So bring on the rain
And bring on the thunder, and I said
Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer
Do you know you're unlike any other?
You'll always be my thunder
So bring on the rain
Oh baby bring on the pain
And listen to the thunder

Lindsay Quit Lollygagging - Chiodos

Bite my tongue, right now the perfect time

Do anything to make her happy

Even if it means my being missarble

As long as she's loving life

I will be able to sleep at night

With a smile upon her face

I will be able to sleep at night

With a smile upon her face

Thought of a smile not being there

My inner feeling would be shattered

A piece of glass punctured in my heart

Im bleeding from the inside

I will be able to sleep at night

With a smile upon her face

I will be able to sleep at night

With a smile upon her face

As long as she's perfectly fine

I hope she's perfectly fine

And some day she will be mine

I will be able to sleep at night

With a smile upon her face

As long as she's perfectly fine

I hope she's perfectly fine

And some day she will be mine

Everything We Had - The Academy Is...

You were the only face I'd ever known

I was the light from the lamp on the floor

And only as bright as you wanted me to be

But, I am no gentleman,

I can be a prick

And I do regret more than I admit

You have been followed back to the same place

I sat with you drink for drink

Take the pain out of love and then love won't exist

Everything we had, everything we had

Everything we had, everything we had

Is no longer there

It was the only place I'd never known

Turned off the light on my way out the door

I will be watching wherever you go

through the eyes of a fly on the wall

You have been followed back to the same place

I sat with you drink for drink

Take the pain out of love and then love won't exist

Everything we had, everything we had

everything we had, everything we had

Is no longer there, longer there

You saw for yourself, the way it played out

For you, I am blinded

For you, I am blinded, for you

I am no gentleman, I can be a prick

And I do regret more than I admit

You have been followed back to the same place

I sat with you drink for drink

Take the pain out of love and then love won't exist

Everything we had, everything we had(You have been followed, you have been followed)Everything we had, everything we had(You have been followed, you have been followed)Everything we had, everything we had(You have been followed, you have been followed)Everything we had...I'll be with you wherever you gothrough the eyes of a fly on the wall

Pictures.

Excerpt

Augustine’s Ambivalence
February 2, 2008
[excerpt from my first draft of a first draft below. I have no puppy yet, so I'm posting]

How did cantus become separated from the whole community of saints, to emerge only from the vocal chords of a select few? Was it, as Phillips seems to suggest, merely an unintended consequence of the development of ornate four-part singing?
To uncover clues that may lead us to the answer to this question, we return to Guthrie. Guthrie notes that in contrast to the command to sing in Ephesians 5:19, some have offered reasons not to sing. A widely accepted reason among Evangelicals originates with a reading of Augustine of Hippo’s Confessions. “Augustine observes,” writes Wren, “that when sacred words are joined to pleasant music, ‘our souls [animos] are moved and are more religiously and with a warmer devotion kindled to piety than if they are not so sung.’”[1] Augustine notes the affective nature of music, its seeming power to move us emotionally. Augustine’s neo-platonic leanings are noted in his observations about this affective quality: “my physical delight [delectation carnis], which has to be checked from enervating the mind [mentem], often deceives me when the perception of the senses [sensus] is unaccompanied by reason [rationem], and is not patiently content to be in a subordinate place.”[2] He concludes, therefore, that there is a danger inherent in the pleasure of song:
I fluctuate between the danger of pleasure and the experience of the beneficent effect, and I am more led to put forward the opinion (not as an irrevocable view) that the custom of singing in Church is to be approved, so that through the delights of the ear the weaker mind may rise up towards the devotion of worship. Yet when it happens to me that the music moves me more than the subject of the song, I confess myself to commit a sin deserving punishment, and then I would prefer not to have heard the singer.[3]
The Greek philosophers considered music a powerful force. Augustine shares this view and the ambivalence about music that goes along with it. Music appeals to the senses; the Greeks believed we should be led by reason, not by bodily sense. While Augustine does not claim the body is bad, he does accept the Greeks’ notion that body must be under the control and direction of reason at all times. Music, then, presents a threat to this hierarchy. Music “arouses both spirit and body, and so its benefits are always accompanied by hazards,”[4] writes Guthrie. “Yes, Christians do sing… but perhaps they should not. Or at least, they should sing very carefully indeed - attending to the words, not the music itself. This, it would seem, should particularly be the case where there is some tendency toward irrationality, foolishness, sensuality or sexual immorality.”[5]
Guthrie ask, it this is the case, why not just read the text, particularly if music is so “dangerously” tangled up with our sensual selves? “If words are really the important thing,” he writes, “why not just speak rather than sing them? Why risk distracting the community from that which is central?”[6] Indeed, perhaps this was Zwingli’s conclusion, and motivation for barring song and music from worship? Perhaps music had become too “emotional” ?
Wren affirms the opinion that music’s emotion-arousing qualities are what makes it powerful. Certain tunes are appealing because of the emotions they arouse, not because of the words, necessarily. He writes, “…the tunes people sing in worship mimic bodily movements and the ebb and flow of emotional states. They have the power-at least potentially - to give meaningful, flowing progression to life’s chaos; to beautify and elevate our purposeful but uncoordinated activities; and to mimic the flow of emotion.”[7]
Wren, too, quotes Augustine of Hippo’s ambivalent musings on the value of music. But Wren doubts there is much danger in being carried away by emotion, declaring that “…sometimes our hearts surely ought to be carried away with the sound, as they are offered to God in song.”[8] Guthrie notes an important contrast, however, between. Paul of Tarsus and Augustine of Hippo: “to a Christian community surrounded by ignorance and immorality; to a people who were themselves prone to the blindness and indulgence of their former way of life; at the conclusion of a passage warning against irrationality and sins of the flesh - Paul urges singing and music”[9][referring to Ephesians 5:17-19]. Augustine says: ‘Irrationality is bad. Sensuality is bad. Therefore be careful about music.’ Paul on the other hand says, ‘Foolishness is bad. Sensuality is bad. Therefore, you had better sing.’”[10]
Christian tradition has tended to pit body against spirit, but Guthrie contends the Holy Spirit is not interested only in our minds or our souls, or some hierarchy thereof, but in our whole person. The Holy Spirit is the “incarnating Spirit - the One who creates, vivifies, and restores bodies….not delivering humanity from their bodies, but bringing dead, decaying bodies to full and vigorous life - putting living flesh on dry bones.”[11]
Guthrie contrasts the neo-platonic views of the Augustinian tradition with a biblical view of what it means to grow spiritually. The Augustinian tradition accepts the Greek’s hierarchical view of the components of a human being, therefore contending that “growth in the spiritual life means directing one’s attention away from the body upward toward the mind and the soul. The biblical tradition however, demonstrates the Holy Spirit works to bring the whole person, body and soul, to life and wholeness.”[12]

Narrative Number 2.

It was nine in the afternoon and unbearably hot. Pears of sweat started forming on his forehead. He was anxious because thirty minutes from now he will be standing on a stage in front of hundreds of people.
Nervously he was rocking back and forth on his chair, playing with his necklace. He lifted the silver necklace off his chest and slightly brushed his lips over it. He could feel the warmth of the metal spread through his body. The necklace had a silver cross on it with a ruby stone attached. It was his lucky charm. Not one day went by without him wearing it. What made his necklace so special was the fact that it had been a present; a present from his best friend. She gave it to him right before she got taken away. It was all he had left of her. That, and her dream for him to become famous. He has always been an amazing singer and all of the years they were friends she fantasized about him making it to the top. He never thought it possible, but now he sat in the dressing room behind the stage, waiting to perform in front of the biggest crowd ever.
He was nervous. No, he was terrified. His legs were shaking and he could barely sit still. But then, as his fingers softly stroked over the rough surface of the necklace, he knew what he had to do. With a deep breath he got up and walked out the door to the stage. As he stepped onto the stage and looked into the hundreds of cheering faces, he knew that she had always been right. With this in his mind, he put all of his energy together, singing all of his pain and anger out, silently dedicating the song to his one true best friend.

Exerpts.

The sound of music.......

The sound of music gives us so much emotionsand that plays a melody deep in our heart greatlyAll the sound on the earth are like musicand the music brings love and enjoyment to our lifeMusic expresses universal language of the worldand brings people together where ever they liveThe music is the best gift of God to all of uswhere its fills our soul with peace and mind with creativityEvery music has its own rhythmand it's creates a great sound of music Music in the mountain brings peace in our heartand music in the ocean fills our soul with loveWhen I hear the sound of musicthen I begin to write a song as a soul of musicIf you don't love the sound of music then your soul will be unsungBecause music can put life in to a dead man

Ravi Sathasivam / Sri Lanka






Music, In A Foreign Language by Andrew Crumey
In a cafe, once more I heardYour voice - those sparse and frugal notes.Do they not say that you spoke your native GreekWith an English accent?Briefest of visions: eyes meet across the cafe;A man of about my age - eyelids heavy,Perhaps from recent pleasures.I begin the most innocent of conversations.Again I see that image;Ancient delight of fleshAgainst guiltless flesh.Sweeter still, in its remembering.Most innocent of conversations: once more, I am mistaken.He leaves; the moment lost - and to foregoThe squalor of this place, I read again your lines; those sparse and frugal notes.In a taverna, you found beauty, long ago.And when you draw, with your slim, swift penThe image of that memory - time's patient hostage;Then how can I forget him, that boy whom you could not forget,Or that music, in a foreign language?

Andrew Crumey, USA



No More Music by Robert William Service
The Porch was blazoned with geranium bloom;Myrtle and jasmine meadows lit the lea;With rose and violet the vale's perfumeLanguished to where the hyacinthine seaDreamed tenderly . . . "And I must go," said he.He spoke in that dim, ghostly voice of his:"I was a singer; then the Was . . . and GAS."(I had to lean to him, no word to miss.)"We bought this little café nigh to Grasse;With sun and flowers my last few days will pass."And music too. I have my mandolin:Say! Maybe you can strum on your guitar . . .Come on - we two will make melodious din,While Madame sings to us behind the bar:You'll see how sweet Italian folk-songs are."So he would play and I would thrum the while;I used to there every lovely day;His wife would listen with a sunny smile,And when I left: "Please come again," she'd say."He seems quite sad when you have one away."Alas! I had to leave without good-bye,And lived in sooty cities for ayear.Oh, how my heart ached for that happy sky!Then, then one day my café I drew near -God! it was strange how I was gripped with fear.So still it was; I saw no mandolin,No gay guitar with ribbons blue and red;Then all in black, stone-faced the wife came in . . .I did not ask; I looked, she shook her head:"La musique est fini," was all she said.

Links that are relevant to my topic

http://library.thinkquest.org/10400/html/music.html

http://www.chordpiano.com/articles-chord-piano/music-emotions-4.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?Music-and-Emotions:-Can-Music-Really-Make-You-a-Happier-Person?&id=40634

http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/music/

http://www.lyrics.com/

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/

http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/music/

http://www.music.com/

http://www.scaruffi.com/history/

http://www.quotegarden.com/music.html

http://allphilosophy.com/topic/1045

My Declaration

Music is “an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color”, as it is defined on Dictionary.com. An unknown author defines music as “what feelings sound like”. This explains my reason for choosing emotions expressed through music in the simplest way. As I signed up for this class, I knew from the start that I wanted to do something unique and challenging. I wanted people to doubt my ability to make a good concept folio with my topic. I tried to think of something that was important to me, so I decide upon music. Since music is really broad, I had to narrow it down. The first thing that came to my mind when I was brainstorming was emotions. Kurt Cobain once said “Thank you for the tragedy. I need it for my art”. This quote indicates that music is based on emotions and feelings. Music without emotions doesn’t exist. I personally relate to this a lot. There is not one day that I don’t listen to music. I listen to it on car rides, on the bus to school, and before I go to bed. I decide on what I want to listen to by how I’m feeling. If I feel happy and content, I’ll most likely listen to something like Cute Is What We Aim For, The Academy is or Hellogoodbye. When I'm in a thoughtful mood, I might be listening to The Scene Aesthetic. If I’m sad, depressed, or just not in a good mood, I will listen to something that goes into the direction of My Chemical Romance, Chiodos, or Vanna. So not only are the artists emotions represented in the music, but also the listeners. Besides listening to music, I also make music. I play the guitar and the keyboard, and I used to play the flute. This also helps me express my feelings, because I adjust the way and what I play to my mood. I express my emotions through my music. Besides making music, I also write lyrics, which is another great way of expressing my feelings. I can put all my thoughts and emotions in them. The ability to express oneself through it is what makes music so great, and is why I chose this topic.

More Pictures.

Narrative3

Everything seemed perfect. I was twenty-four and I seemed to have found the love of my life, Thomas. He completed me and I completed him. We met when I was fifteen and we both took piano lessons with the same teacher. One day we bumped into each other because he was early for his lesson, and since that day we were inseparable. As soon as we were both 18 we got an apartment together. I was never happier in my life. With 22 he asked me to be his wife, and I said yes. Three months later we were married. I will never forget what a handsome groom he was, with his black hair and his shining green eyes. As a wedding gift, my parents gave us the piano that connected us both from start. We put it into our bedroom, next to my side of the bed. We spent our honeymoon in the Bahamas, but even when we came back home it didn’t seem to end. He made me feel special and appreciated. Sometimes he left me presents on our piano before he left for work so that they were the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes in the morning. We shared the chores so that no one had to do too much work. He took me to the beach, where we took long walks, laughing about old stories. He brought me flowers and he left me random notes around the house that would say how much he loved me. Stumbling over one of those notes while he was on a business trip always brought a smile to my face.
One morning, I woke up, and I saw a brown, fluffy teddy bear with a red and white striped bow and a heart in between its hands sitting on the bottom keys of the piano. I smiled and thought to myself how lucky I am to have such an amazing person in my life and how I couldn’t live without him. As I get up in order to pick up the bear, the phone rang. Wondering about who called this early I picked it up.
“Is this Mrs. Cunnings?” the person on the other line said.
“Yes” I replied.
“I’m really sorry, but your husband got into a car accident. He suffered sever head trauma. I’m sorry. He didn’t even make it to the hospital.”
Shocked, I started sobbing. My hands were shaking and the phone fell to the ground. I broke down, falling onto my knees. This can’t be happening. Everything was so perfect. Thomas can’t leave me. Tears were streaming down my face, quenching my shirt. Everything seemed so unreal. I lifted my hand up and grabbed the bear off of the piano. Hugging it tightly, I walked into the kitchen. Not thinking clearly, I grabbed the nearest knife. I couldn’t stand the pain that I was feeling, deep down in my stomach. Still hugging the last gift, wet with tears now, I walked back into the bedroom and sat at the piano. I took the knife and pulled it over my wrist, as it seemed as I was floating above my body, watching the thick, red liquid of life rush out of me, dripping over the white keys of the piano.

Pictures for Jenn!