The project of Pride

After 8 years of not being in school, I went back. It was May 2010 of my first day of college. I took only two courses because I didn’t know that you could take more than two for the summer. Plus they were night courses. Both classes I loved. One I was studying about the introduction to business while the other one was Humanities. Well like every other course there’s usually one big assignment that has to get completed throughout the year and worth a hefty chunk of the overall mark. The project was about taking a piece of art and analyzing it to your own understanding. The wonderful twist that it could be music. I thought I would twist it around a bit more and ask the teacher if it was possible to do the project on an artist with three of their songs and how they all talk about love but in different ways. It was the same meaning but the mission was how to conquer the monster in altered ways. I had Janis Joplin in my mind and was so excited to start the project but all I needed was 3 songs. Then it hit me ‘Piece of my Heart’, ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ and ‘Get it while you can’ All three soulful jazz songs. I directed ‘Piece of my heart’ as a song for an independent woman who can strive through anything especially when her boyfriend leaves her. It was portrayed as an anthem to woman with broken heart and strong souls. The song was a thing of the past where as ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ was a song of the present. It was directed towards being in the moment with that person and the time that was shared. It was about a true love for a friend who escaped within the night. ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ was about understanding your present and enjoying that moment with them. ‘Get it while you can’ was based on the future of love. It was knowing and seeing when you can identify when love comes around. Just because of passed errors of previous relationships the songs possessed the free spirit of letting go of the past and embrace the new future of love.
I was soo excited on working on this project that I went at it for 2 days straight and I couldn’t stop. I was too eager to get this project done (not because it was due but to present magic) it was my piece of art that was dedicated to Joplin. The project was due at the end of the semester, so I figure I wouldn’t get to see any comments or to see if the teacher liked it. Till one day I got an email from the him. He wrote that my project was compelling and inspirational, he said that he enjoyed reading it and the direction of how I took the project into my own hands, he said it was powerful in the structure and the flow. Two days later I got my mark, 100% on my final project! Which it was worth 25% of my final mark. I know I made my teacher happy and myself, a true accomplishment thanks to the woman up top: Janis Joplin! May you rest in Peace!