3 Quarters Today

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I Believe, in Music and In Life

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Music has played an important part in my life and I have been blessed that my children have participated and enjoyed their scholastic music careers. My son sang at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and both he and my daughter have participated in numerous honor choirs across the state.

With each experience comes an increased appreciation for music and how it impacts their life. Each clinician and conductor teaches the students an improved breathing technique, a new warm up routine, or even how posture and carriage affects the sound and tone.

Choir Concert and Competition

My life as a choir and band Mom is ending with the close of my daughters senior year in high school. Last week was the Nebraska district music contests across the state and I made the trek down to Nebraska City to listen to the band and choir perform. I have been honored to be a part of a program where 75% of the students participate in either band, choir, or both. What other high school can make that claim? I’d challenge any school in the country.

The first song the choir sang at the District Music contest was Ani Ma’amin and although the students could say it and sing it they couldn’t spell the title.  They could tell me it was a Jewish Hebrew song sung during the Holocaust. During the warm up director Betty Colbert recited the translation before they started. What a great way to teach multiculturalism, and history.

English Translation: 

“I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and, though he may tarry, I wait daily for his coming.”

Hebrew:

“Ani Ma’amin be’emunah shlaima bevias haMoshiach, ve’af al pi sheyismame’ach im kol zeh achake lo b’chol yom sheyavo. Ani Ma’amin.”

It is not unusual for our choir selections to be religious or in another language, but I had not heard Hebrew before and the history of this song interested me. Ani Ma’amin is a song created and sung in the horrors of a cattle car full of Jewish prisoners. In one boxcar the sound of singing could be heard and it spread throughout the whole train.

The history of this song is stirring, inspirational, a song of faith and hope. From the Chabad.org website I learned the full story and it’s worth a visit.

I am partial to the choir, only because I sang in choir in high school and was the piano accompanist for several years, but I will post  the band performance later this week.

The day was especially moving for the seniors who will be graduating in just a few weeks. Their graduating class is only 32 students and in this small community most have been together since preschool. Out of the eleven students below eight of them started in preschool together. At this point it’s almost their whole lifetime.

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Day 218/365: Grinders vs. Subs

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American Slang Dialects

I have lived in three distinct areas of the United States, Connecticut, Oklahoma and Nebraska. Each region has a regional dialect and slang for various words. We all know of the nationwide debate between pop, soda, and Coke but there are many other traditions.

I grew up eating “grinders”, pictured above from People’s Choice in East Hartford, but in the Midwest these are called “Submarine” sandwiches, or Subs. The latest made popular by Subway restaurants. In other areas of the country hoagie is the preferred name for a toasted sandwich on a bun.

What’s in a name anyways, what is the history and origin? Garzelli’s restaurant has a theory.

New England "Grinder"
New England “Grinder”

The biggest difference I see is the amount of meat. In Connecticut, the meat comes first and foremost and it’s piled high. At Subway you would never see this much meat.

The definition is as follows:

“A long French or Italian-style bread loaf, filled with meats and cheeses, topped with an assortment of lettuce, peppers, pickles – whatever – with a vinaigrette dressing or mayo.”

American Slang, sub vs. grinder
Turkey Sandwiches are nothing to sneeze at either.

So what do you call it: Grinder, Sub, Hoagie, Poor Boy, Hero? Or maybe something entirely different.

The Slangman Guide to Street Speak 1: The Complete Course in American Slang & IdiomsBuy At AmazonAmerican Slang Dictionary and ThesaurusBuy At AmazonLet’s Talk Turkey: The Stories Behind America’s Favorite ExpressionsBuy At AmazonDirty Sign Language: Everyday Slang fromBuy At Amazon

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